268 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



matter of fact I doubt whether the total length of the 

 nesting ground of the Crested Tit exceeds fifteen miles, 

 while in width it is only four or five miles. To other parts 

 of Scotland he is a rare or accidental visitor only. On the 

 Continent the Crested Titmouse is widely distributed, 

 but it is of a slightly different variety to our British repre- 

 sentative. 



I made my first acquaintance with the Crested Tit- 

 mouse on a certain day early in May. After twenty-four 

 hours of heavy rain the wind had veered round to the 

 north and an extraordinarily severe snowstorm for the 

 time of year had swept over the hills. 



To reach the district where the Crested Tits were nest- 

 ing it was necessary for me to cross a watershed where the 

 road reached the 2000 feet level. Leaving the valley 

 of the Dee with a northerly wind and heavy showers 

 of rain I found that at the head of the Don conditions 

 resembling those of mid- winter prevailed. The wind now 

 brought with it blinding snow squalls, and the hills were 

 heavily coated. At Cockbridge the road mounts rapidly 

 up the hill face, and here the snow was lying to a depth 

 of from three or four feet, the storm experienced having 

 been actually the heaviest of the whole w^inter. Under 

 the circumstances further progress w^as impossible, and a 

 detour of at least seventy miles was necessary. Even then 

 snow lay on the road, though not in quantities sufficient 

 to retard the progress of the car. It was tow^ards after- 

 noon that we approached the country of the Crested Tit- 

 mouse. Away before us there stretched the range of 

 the great Cairngorm hills, heavily mantled in white. Over 

 their slopes the wdnd, which had now backed to the -west, 

 was blowing with great force, sweeping up before it the 

 powdery snow and hurrying it along in dense clouds that 

 rose many feet from the ground and rendered the summits 

 of the hills blurred and indistinct. The scene resembled 



