34 WINTER NOTES 



elated by blackgame. The old cocks made light of the 

 storm which roared over the heights and drove blinding 

 snow-showers down the strath; they knew the rough 

 weather could not last; and when the sun shone out 

 between the gusts, they began crooning among the birch 

 boughs, alighting at times on the snowclad ground to 

 strut and swagger after their manner when spring draws 

 nigh. But a much more trustworthy harbinger of 

 better things appeared in the strath on one of the 

 bitterest days at the close of February a solitary 

 peewit, to be joined next day by several companions. 

 Sutherland lies to the north of the winter haunts of 

 the lapwing ; the appearance of this bird there marks 

 the approach, as the cuckoo in Cambridgeshire does 

 the presence, of spring. Several parties of northward- 

 bound chaffinches and other small birds also ap- 

 peared, having set out, in spite of the temporary wintry 

 aspect of things, on their annual journey to far 

 Scandinavia. 



Season after season, day after day, the close observer 

 of nature will witness the same incidents, the same 

 traits, repeated by wild creatures ; from time to 

 time he will be rewarded by something novel. During 

 the recent bitter after- Yule I happened to notice 

 one such occurrence. Everybody knows how the hen 

 birds of many species will pretend to be cripples in 

 order to lead away an intruder from their young. It 

 is a touching, but threadbare, and therefore not very 

 effective device, but it is always pretty to see the 

 imposture well acted. I was crossing a small flat of 



