256 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVIil. 



of pochards swimming about in compact companies. 

 Occasionally too when walking near the covers an 

 old roe, accompanied by her two large-eyed fawns, 

 bounds out of some clump of juniper or brambles ; 

 and after standing for a short time to take a good 

 look at me, springs into the wood and is soon lost 

 to view, or an old solitary buck, driven by the 

 midges fi-om the damp shades of the woods, startles 

 me by his sudden appearance near the loch side, 

 springing over the furze and broom, on his way 

 back to the more extensive covers. 



The roe have a singular habit of chasing each 

 other in regular circles round particular trees in the 

 woods, cutting a deep circular path in the ground. 

 I never could make out the object of this manoeuvre, 

 but the state of the ground })roves that the animals 

 must have run round and round the tree for hours 

 together. 



Tormented by midges and ticks, the bucks often 

 w^ander restlessly through the woods at this season, 

 uttering their bark-like cry ; so like indeed is this 

 sound to the bark of a dog, that it often deceives 

 an unaccustomed ear. Of all torments produced 

 by insects I can conceive nothing much worse than 

 the attack carried on by the myi-iads of midges 

 which swarm towards evening in the woods, particu- 

 larly where the soil is at all damp. For a certain 



