234 CRIES OF THE BIRDS. . CHAP. xn. 



stantly filled with clamour. The sandpiper screamed 

 its kittie-needie ; the pigeon cooed ; the pipit, with 

 lively emotion, came flying round me, uttering all 

 the while its peeping note ; the moor-cock sprang 

 with whirring wing from his heathy lair, and gave 

 forth his well-known and indignant lirr lirr-lick; 

 the curlew came sailing down the glen with steady 

 flight, and added to the noise with his shrill and 

 peculiar notes ofpoo-elie poo-elie coorlie coorlie wJia-up; 

 and, from the loftier parts of the hills, the plovers 

 ceased not their mournful wail, which accorded so well 

 with the scene of which I alone appeared to be a 

 silent spectator. But I moved not a foot until the 

 alarmed inmates of the glen and the mountain had 

 disappeared, and solemn stillness had again resumed 

 its sway." 



On the following day, while crossing the Clash- 

 mauch, on his way to Huntly, Edward observed a 

 curlew rise from a marshy part of the hill, to which 

 he bent his steps in hopes cf finding her nest. In 

 this, however, he was disappointed; but, in searching 

 about, and within a few feet of the remains of a 

 wreath of snow, he came upon a wild duck lying 

 beside a tuft of rushes. It may be mentioned that 

 there had been a heavy snowstorm which had forced 

 the plovers and wild ducks to abandon their nests; 

 though then full of eggs, and greatly interrupted the 

 breeding season in the northern counties. Edward 

 proceeds: 



