280 FIELU-XOTES FOU THE YEAR. Oil. XIX. 



full vigour and plumage there is no handsomer bird 

 than an old blackcock, and although his size makes 

 him an easy mark, his cunning and strength are 

 pretty good securities for his not falling too readily 

 to the sportsman's gun. But in August even the 

 old birds are not fit to shoot, being neither in per- 

 fect condition nor in full plumage. The blackcock 

 is much more addicted to feeding hi the corn-fields 

 than the grouse is, and takes long flights for the 

 purpose of reaching some fevourite stubble-field. 



Few stags have got the velvet off' their horns 

 during August, except in favom-cd situations, where 

 good feeding in the spring and winter has enabled 

 them to keep up their condition and the strength 

 which is required for the })roduction and growth of 

 their weighty antlers. 



I find that towards the end of August, when the 

 hill-lakes and swamps are much disturbed by 

 grouse-shooters, the wild ducks bring down their 

 young broods in great numbers, both to the bay and 

 to the lochs. Every evening I can make sure of 

 killing a brace or two as they fly to the corn-fields 

 regularly when the sun sets ; indeed they sometimes 

 do considerable damage by trampling down and 

 eating the corn before it is cut. But some of the 

 wild ducks which are killed in the bogs and swamps 

 have their crops full of the seeds of a coarse grass 



