BIRD LIFE, ETC. 153 



hail that poured from them left no trace on the stormy 

 waters. Toward the north lay the dreary flats of Lewis, 

 covered with lakes and flanked with the Park and Uig 

 mountains. Having gazed upon the splendid scene until 

 nearly frozen, I descended with considerable difficulty 

 into a deep valley, where I encountered a fall of snow 

 so dense as to render me apprehensive of being smothered 

 by it. I felt too, for the first time perhaps, the benumbing 

 effects of cold, my feet and fingers having become almost 

 senseless, and a feeling of faintness having crept over me. 

 However, by walking and running I soon recovered heat 

 enough, and after passing the deep glen of Langadale, 

 ascended an eminence in a kind of pass between two 

 mountains, whence I discovered tokens of cultivation at 

 the distance of three or four miles. British Birds, vol. 

 i. pp. 306, 307. 



8. CROSSBILLS FEEDING. 



In the autumn of 1821, when walking from Aber- 

 deen to Elgin, by the way of Glenlivet and along the 

 Spey, I had the pleasure of observing, near the influx of 

 a tributary of that river, a flock of several hundreds of 

 crossbills busily engaged in shelling the seeds of the 

 berries which hung in clusters on a clump of rowan 

 trees. So intent were they on satisfying their hunger 

 that they seemed not to take the least heed of me, and 

 as I had not a gun I was content with gazing on them, 

 without offering them any molestation. They clung to 

 the twigs in all sorts of positions, and went through the 



