42 BRITISH BIRDS. 



which is not less than sixty miles distance in a straight 

 line. 



The young keep with the parent birds till the ap- 

 proach of winter. In November sometimes thirty or 

 forty flock together ; they are then plentiful, but ex- 

 tremely shy, and difficult to be shot. In severe seasons 

 they come lower down the mountains in Scotland, and 

 assemble in great numbers. In 1782 and 1783, it is 

 said three or four thousand assembled. On another oc- 

 casion, a gentleman who encamped at the source of the 

 Dalmon, at the foot of an immense hill, called Croke 

 Franc, says : " The game on these moors is innumera- 

 ble. In a mile long, and not half a one broad, I saw 

 at least one thousand brace of moor game." Since then 

 they have been greatly diminished. 



