8 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXI. 



with good management may be driven from one 

 end of a loch to the other without quitting the 

 water. 



October is the month when the greatest number 

 of widgeon arrive in the bay ; and the mallards, 

 also, keep up a constant quacking and calling or 

 the sands. Every evening at sunset, or soon after- 

 wards, the latter birds fly to the stubble fields, pre- 

 ferring those where there is the least quantity of 

 grass to cover the scattered grains. The water- 

 ousels now come down to the burns near the sea ; 

 and these merry little birds resort to the very same 

 stones year after year. They appear to be regular 

 attendants on the small streams and burns where 

 the trout spawn. 



Immediately on the retiring of a flood in the 

 river, great numbers of snipes are seen on the mud 

 and refuse left by the water, feeding busily. Where 

 they come from is difiicult to say, as at this season, 

 except on these occasions, we have no great abund- 

 ance of these birds. Redshanks, in considerable 

 flocks, follow their example. On the 16th I see 

 redwings in the hedges ; fieldfares do not appear 

 until ten days afterwards. The woodpigeons now 

 fly considerable distances to feed on acorns. In the 

 south of England I have killed wild ducks with their 

 crops nearly bursting with the quantity of acorns 



