INVERERNE. 79 



March 3rd. Immense Hocks of oyster- catchers on the sand- 

 banks. The pochard, which the boys have in a little yard, is 

 perfectly tame, taking worms from their hands. When it takes 

 a worm from the ground, it generally washes it in the water 

 before swallowing it. Rennie laid wait for the otter again last 

 night at the Moy Burn, but it seems that the animal twice 

 passed him without his getting a shot. The old man is not so 

 quiet (I suspect) as he has been. Fine warm day, though there 

 is a very large quantity of snow on the hills, more than is usual. 



I heard the long- tail ducks making a great noise in the bay 

 this afternoon. Their cry sounds more like some musical in- 

 strument than the note of a bird. The wood-pigeons feed very 

 much on the newly ploughed fields, apparently picking up the 

 seeds and grains that are exposed by turning up the ground. 



March kth. Went to hunt for roe in Burgie Woods, but we 

 did not get a shot. The grey crows calling all day in the woods ; 

 great numbers of golden-crested wrens and of creepers searching 

 the fir trees through the whole wood for insects. Also numbers 

 of bullfinches. I killed a jacksnipe near the river. 



Captain S.'s keeper told me a curious anecdote, which 

 strongly displays the great affection which birds have for their 

 mates. He had set some traps for wild geese near a marsh in 

 Berwickshire, but was prevented looking at them by some un- 

 expected business for two or three days. When he did look at 

 his traps, he found a hen grouse caught in one of them. The 

 bird was not much injured, and the cock bird was close to her, 

 and had brought (to use the keeper's expression) " a hatful " of 

 small tender shoots of heather, and had laid them down all 

 round his mate, seeing that she was unable to move and search 

 for food herself. 



I have known a cock pigeon come to feed his hen when she 

 was caught in a horsehair snare, but I had no idea grouse had 

 the same strong attachment to each other. This happened in 

 the month of April, when the grouse would have been paired and 

 preparing to breed. 



March 8th. The male hares have grown so small that they 



