I/O WILD NATURE IN STRATHEARN. 



heard but the " baying " of a Collie in the distance. 



As the season advances, when autumn wanes 

 to winter, and the trees are stripped of their 

 foliage, when "those bare, ruined choirs, where late 

 the sweet birds sang," and when the wind moans 

 through the leafless woods, snapping off the dead 

 branches, the Wild Pigeons visit the turnip fields 

 in countless flocks to feed on the green tops. 

 Their feast of blaeberries, acorns, and beech-mast 

 is past, and now that the winter is upon us they 

 will find it more difficult to procure food. 



Golden Plovers in little family parties are 

 moving about ; they breed on the hills, and come 

 down to us in the autumn before they go into 

 flocks and migrate to the sea-shore. We know 

 them by the shrill whistle they emit when flying 

 past. The Wild Ducks may now be seen in the 

 evenings flying inward to feed, and the Canadian 

 Geese that go between the lochs or ponds at 

 Drummond Castle and Abercairny may be ob- 

 served feeding on the stubbles. 



The Great and Blue Tits are now drawing 



