20 BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 



formed, and in one district after the storm a keeper 

 found no less than nine hen Grouse dead on their 

 nests during a single morning's walk on the moors. 

 In another case a keeper told me that a certain 

 Grouse had just finished Wing, but had not com- 

 menced to brood, when the storm came on and 

 covered nest and eggs with many inches of snow. 

 The hen bird, however, remained near for over 

 a week, until the eggs once more appeared from 

 beneath the snow, when she took up the duties 

 of incubation and hatched out her brood as if 

 nothing had happened. However, many of the 

 birds were not so fortunate, and in several instances 

 I saw a pair of old birds with only one or two young 

 ones, and in some cases none at all. Yet the 

 extraordinary thing was that the shooting season 

 was the most successful for years, and on a moor 

 which suffered more than any, bags of 140 brace 

 and upwards were got for days on end. The 

 only explanation seems to be that in the majority 

 of cases the birds had only just commenced to 

 brood, and so were able to lay a second clutch 

 within a short time ; for as late as the end of August 

 I came upon young birds still weak on the wing. 

 A shepherd informed me that at the beginning of 

 that month he had flushed a hen from her nest so 

 weak that she was unable to fly. She had probably 

 sat for two months at least on her eggs, and these 

 most likely had been rendered infertile by the May 

 snowstorm. I think, however, that, as regards 

 late nesting, the Ptarmigan is easily first, for as 

 late as September 23rd I have seen and photo- 

 graphed a Ptarmigan chick not yet fully grown, 

 and on that date came upon a Ptarmigan's egg, 

 which I should say was not more than a fortnight 



