62 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



by the fitful sunbeams, and a solitary Wheatear, 

 more venturesome than the rest of his kind, has 

 made his appearance among the peat-stacks. Let 

 us hope he will not have cause to regret his 

 haste ; but the early spring days here in these 

 northern valleys are often severe, and snow-storms 

 and tempests threaten to exterminate even the 

 most robust of the feathered tribes. Along the 

 banks of the burn, which rushes down in a swollen 

 torrent charged with the melted snow from the 

 hills, the Dipper flits uneasily before us. He is 

 a resident here, the water being always open, and 

 a food supply ever at hand. He dives into the 

 ice-cold water just below the falls, and disappears 

 for several moments, rising again among the foam- 

 flecks, and swimming gracefully to land. It is 

 too early for the Siskins, and the Twite has not 

 yet dared to venture from the lowlands ; but a 

 flock of Snow Buntings rise and circle in the air 

 above a grass meadow which has recently been 

 spread with manure, and a pair of Hooded Crows, 

 impudent and cunning as is ever their wont, just 

 keep a respectful distance out of what they doubt- 

 less consider harm's way. As soon as we get 

 clear of the coppices and the fringe of birch and 

 alder trees on the banks of the burn, the cold 

 wind seems to pierce right through us, and the 

 temperature sensibly lowers as we mount higher 

 up the hillsides. The Red Grouse scurry from 

 out the brown heather, and skim across the 

 moors, go-bac-baC'bac-'mg as they fly, or timidly 



