5 6 INVERERNE. 



Spawning trout get into all the small ditches wherever they 

 find running water. 



Hen-harriers andj other hawks come down and hunt the 

 low grounds in October. 



Redwings arrive in middle of October. Fieldfares about the 

 last week of the month. 



Grouse in October and September feed very much on 

 the stubble fields, and are snared and trapped in great numbers 

 by the shepherds and others who have small oat fields far up in 

 the hills. They frequently leave some of the sheaves on the 

 ground for the express purpose of catching the grouse. The 

 usual manner is with horsehair nooses. They put a great number 

 of these snares on each sheaf of corn, and catch dozens of grouse 

 in a morning. 



October 27th. The golden plover assemble morning and 

 evening in immense flocks on the gravel banks along the edge 

 of the river. 



After a flood in the river a great many snipe come down to 

 feed about the mud left after the water has subsided. 



I shot a wood-pigeon with its crop entirely full of well- 

 ripened acorns. As this food does not ripen here in any quantity, 

 I was much surprised at the circumstance, the more so as it was 

 a young bird, and the spot where I killed it was at the distance 

 of some miles from any oak tree. In England I have frequently 

 observed that the wild ducks fly to considerable distances at 

 night time to feed on the acorns that drop from oak trees stand- 

 ing singly in the fields. 



About the middle of October the roe have lost their red 

 summer coat and have put on their beautiful mouse-coloured 

 winter covering, though the hair has not yet acquired its full 

 length. These animals are very fond of feeding in the clover 

 fields, nibbling at the second growth that comes up now. As 

 the leaves are now dropping off the birch and larch, the roe 

 leave these woods now and betake themselves to the fir woods, 

 where they remain till the spring affords them shelter again in 

 the verdurous woods by the return of the leaf. 



