216 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XV. 



breeds in the rocks of the Findhorn : not having 

 towers or ruins to breed in, they adapt themselves 

 to their situation and take to the rocks. 



The male of all hawks, I believe, feeds his mate 

 while she is sitting on her eggs. Whilst I was 

 fishing in the Findhorn, at a place where a great 

 many kestrels breed, one of these birds came flying 

 up the course of the river with a small bird in his 

 claws. When he came opposite the rock where the 

 nest was, he rose in the air and began to call 

 loudly and shrilly for his mate, who soon came out 

 from the rocks, and taking the bird in her talons 

 flew back with it ; the male bird, after uttering a 

 few cries expressive of pleasure, flew off to renew 

 his hunting. 



The time at which roe lose the velvet from their 

 horns seems to depend on the lateness or earliness 

 of the season. This year (1848) is backward, and 

 as late as the 15 th of this month I see that the 

 horns of the bucks are still covered with the velvet. 

 In early seasons their horns are quite clean by the 

 4th or 5th of the month. When the larch and other 

 trees become green, the roe wander very much, 

 taking to the smaller woods and grassy plantations 

 in search of some favourite foliage or herbage. A 

 fine buck came to an untimely end at Darnaway. 

 Mr. Stuart on his way to fish, was going along a 



