96 BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 



any rest, but undoubtedly it is the case that 

 they can do with a very little, snatched at odd 

 intervals. 



They leave the moorlands comparatively early, 

 and hardly one is seen later than the first half 

 of July. When they are at the sea, they usually 

 keep in large flocks, and it is wonderful to watch 

 them wheeling and turning as one, following the 

 leading bird with marvellous dexterity. 



They feed at the seaside chiefly on the molluscs 

 and worms left by the falling tide, and it is very 

 interesting to watch them follow a receding wave, 

 picking up choice morsels before another incoming 

 one forces them to retire. During the sojourn on 

 the coast many a Redshank falls a victim to the 

 gunner, but still, on an average, I think there 

 is no decrease in their numbers from year to year, 

 but, if anything, a slight increase. 



THE OYSTER CATCHER 



WERE it not for this handsome bird the rivers of 

 Scotland would indeed seem forsaken to the bird- 

 lover during the months of spring and summer. 

 After wintering on the sea coast, haunting the 

 estuaries of rivers and mud banks, where even 

 during the severest frost they obtain food in plenty, 

 the Oyster Catchers, about the first days of March, 

 begin to think of their nesting haunts and to 

 ascend the rivers and burns where they love to nest. 

 Last year I watched the inland migration of 

 these birds on March 4th. After a long spell of 

 severe frost and snow, the weather on that day 

 suddenly changed to almost summer-like mildness, 



