OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY 29 



vegetations may sometimes be demonstrated: (i) 

 Closely encrusting lichens and some very simple green 

 Algae; (2) more bushy lichens like Reindeer Moss; 

 (3) communities of mosses ; (4) some hardy flowering 

 plants in suitable pockets; and (5) the heather. So 

 that the zones we notice on looking down the hill 

 correspond to phases which may appear in succession 

 on a particular area. 



We occupied ourselves on the way home in collect- 

 ing, in our mind at least, things that were particularly 

 interesting, though, of a truth, in wild nature we do 

 not know what an uninteresting thing is. Let us men- 

 tion a dozen of our finds. The bleached skull of a 

 Curlew with its long, curved bill, well suited for prob- 

 ing, and we remembered that it is neither long nor 

 curved in the very young bird, else there would be diffi- 

 culties in regard to the egg ! The shells of very minute 

 snails fastened to the heather; they must be food 

 for many a hill bird, such as the Wheatear. A piece 

 of a Red Deer's antlers all gnawed away ; the deer eat 

 them gradually after they fall off, an economical thing 

 to do. A circle of small feathers where a Hawk had 

 plucked a small bird and the skull of a Hare with the 

 hind part slipping off from the rest. These are among 

 the many hints of the reality of the struggle for exist- 

 ence on the hill. 



Hung on the heather was the nest of a wasp (Vespa 

 sylvestris), about the size of a tangerine orange a 

 paper house made from chewed wood, a suspended 

 house with several stories, a waterproof house full of 

 babies, truly a wonder. Many little moths were flitting 

 about, such as the common Heath Moth (Ematurga 

 atomaria), and there were some cocoons. Another 



