RAMBLE VIII. 



UP THE MOUNTAINS. 



MANY pleasant hours may be spent with the birds 

 among the mountains ; for they are the haunt of 

 some of our rarest species. They are also the 

 last refuge of other birds which civilisation has 

 driven from more lowland scenes ; and here 

 among the hills, inaccessible to all human enemies 

 except the most persevering, these last remnants 

 of our ancient pre-Roman avifauna find haunts 

 congenial to their wants, and that seclusion which 

 their retiring habits demand. It is only in the 

 spring and summer, however, that the mountain- 

 tops will repay one for the exertion of climbing to 

 them, that is from an ornithological point of view. 

 Winter drives most of their feathered inhabitants 

 lower down the hillsides, and the mountain-crests 

 are then bare and desolate beyond description. 



Our path right up the valley has been en- 

 livened by birds that prefer the wooded and 

 cultivated districts. With the wilder scenery 

 other birds replace them, and now up here among 

 the mountain-tops a small and select avifauna is 

 met with unknown on lower land. The most 

 characteristic bird of our British hills is the 



