248 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



occupy vacant minds, to fill the leisure of busy 

 lives, and to rebuke all who are disposed to regard 

 the world as used up, and life not worth living. 

 Little things in themselves, no doubt, but wonder- 

 fully suggestive, and full of interest notwith- 

 standing. One can scarcely move between our 

 hedgerows, with their fading foliage, and scarlet 

 berries noiseless except for the clear note from 

 amid the deep red of the mountain ash without 

 having his senses filled with the surrounding 

 beauty, and his mind pleasantly stirred to curious 

 guesses, and led on to far-reaching thought. 



1st November. 



A late October gale stripped the trees in a night 

 that is now nearly a fortnight ago. The farmer 

 is taking advantage of the open day to turn over 

 the soil in the field to the right, and in the wake 

 of the plough follow a multitude of birds. 



Running along the fresh furrows at a great rate, 

 as if each were trying to outstrip his neighbour, 

 and secure the foremost place, which is probably 

 the case, and tumbling, and flapping over one 

 another in their hurry, are the starlings hundreds 

 of them. If the peasant is an old man, and he 

 need not be very old either, he will probably tell 



