Wanderings of a Naturalist 



light, came the hoarse challenge of a stag, and so light was 

 it, grouse still crowed from the heather beside the track. 



But late that evening hurrying clouds from the east ob- 

 scured the moon, and the deer hastened to the low grounds, 

 even entering the village of Braemar towards midnight. 



Snow, soft and * powdery, commenced to fall before 

 that hour, and by morning a good ten inches covered even 

 the glens. Throughout the day the fall persisted, and with 

 its ceasing a fierce frost bound all the countryside, so that, 

 with the thermometer showing 40 degrees of frost, the Dee 

 was soon frozen across from bank to bank, for full winter, 

 before her time, had come to the hills and the glens. 



198 



