52 BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 



winter the birds sleep in coveys on the leeward 

 side of a hill, scraping hollows in the snow. 



I think that a fine June day amongst the Ptar- 

 migan must ever live in the memory of a true lover 

 of nature, as, quite apart from the ornithological 

 point of view, the grand scenery and the delicious 

 scent of countless blaeberry plants, clad in the 

 softest green, broken here and there by a lingering 

 wreath of the winter's snow, all tend to form an 

 exquisite picture which, once seen, will ever live 

 in the memory. (From " The Illustrated Sporting 

 and Dramatic News.") 



THE WOODCOCK 



ALTHOUGH for the most part only a winter visitor 

 to England, the Woodcock remains throughout 

 the season in the sister country to the north, but 

 their numbers are in all probability considerably 

 augmented during the winter by birds from 

 Scandinavia and the Far North, which have come 

 south to escape the severe cold. 



One of the earliest of our nesters, the Wood- 

 cock lays her eggs even as soon as the latter half of 

 March, and by April almost all the birds are brood- 

 ing. A favourite nesting ground is amongst the 

 withered and fallen bracken in a wood where the 

 trees are not too close together, and plantations of 

 birch and oak seem much sought after, especially 

 if they are near a river or loch where the birds 

 can obtain food without much trouble. 



No nest worth the name is constructed, but a 

 slight hollow is scraped amongst the bracken or 

 fallen leaves, and here the eggs are deposited. These 



