282 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



Many a time, on the clear starlight nights of mid- 

 winter, the Moorhen careers about the air, uttering 

 its shrill cry at intervals. This note differs con- 

 siderably from the usual cr-rick, and is only heard 

 when the bird is in the air. These birds are very 

 fond of frequenting woods in very cold weather, 

 and may sometimes be seen hopping and climbing 

 about the bushes with much adroitness, and even 

 roosting in the evergreens. The Coot is the 

 most frequently seen on the sea of the two 

 species, and its numbers are largely increased 

 during winter by birds driven south with the frost. 

 The wild moorlands, in summer so breezy and 

 enticing, now look particularly dreary and desolate, 

 especially if covered with snow. All the birds of 

 summer have gone not even a Meadow Pipit 

 remains. But the Red Grouse haunts them still, 

 and finds his food in places where the snow has 

 drifted. If the storm is long-continued, he will 

 seek the farms in the valleys and pick up the 

 grain in the stackyards. In very severe weather 

 he often burrows deep down into the snow, and 

 sleeps securely at night below the surface, safe in 

 his warm bed among the heather. The Ptarmigan, 

 in flocks at this season, and in plumage white as 

 the driven snow itself, comes lower down the 

 hillsides from its usual haunts on the mountain- 

 tops. Still this bird loves the snow, for his 

 plumage is in harmony with it, and renders him 

 safe from the marauding Eagles and Falcons 

 which scour the hills in search of prey. 



