HAUNTS OF THE GHALL.E. 89 



through the sedges and reeds by the marsh, and on the beach 

 as far as the ebbing tide retires. Mountainward, they 

 approach the haunts which are occupied in succession by 

 the black-game, the grous, and the ptarmigan ; fieldward, 

 they border with the partridge and the rook ; and near the 

 waters, they are the immediate neighbours of the swimming 

 birds. 



The pastures which they occupy are more under the influ- 

 ence of the seasons than either the richer or the more elevated 

 parts of the country. Both of these afford shelter, and even, 

 food all the year round. The leaves, it is true, fall, and the 

 annual stems are gathered in or die, down in the rich places ; 

 but the tree and the shrub remain, and the clearing of the 

 ground of foliage discloses no small portion of food for the 

 birds which inhabit there. It is indeed the store to whick 

 they all collect from their breeding grounds, and on which 

 they become strong and wax fat, preparatory to the labours- 

 of a new season. The mountain vegetation is also perennial, 

 and it is so in leaf as well as in flower. There are, indeed, 

 few succulent hybernaculating buds there ; but the tops of the 

 heaths and mosses are always in a state of growth, so that 

 they support the birds which nestle among them, even when 

 the whole are clad with snow. 



The plants among which the grallse reside are, on the other 

 hand, almost wholly annual both in the leaves and the stems, 

 so that they supply very little food in the winter months ; 

 for when the vegetation falls, and the autumnal winds and 

 frosts sweep and chill the surface, the mollusca and other 

 small animals retire downwards beyond the reach of the birds. 

 Hence there is a very general migration, and the tendency of 

 that migration is towards the sea, the shores of which afford 

 a constant supply to those birds which feed on small animals. 

 The supply along the shores is indeed most abundant in the 

 winter, as the waters, being in a state of stronger agitation, 



