268 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xv. 



at finding the nest that at last, determined not to be outwitted, 

 I started off with a companion bent on solving the mystery. 

 On arriving at the haunt we took up our position under a 

 grand old Scotch fir commanding an excellent view of the 

 situation. It was not long before the female arrived on the 

 scene, first alighting on the topmost twig of a small sapling 

 some sixty yards distant and then flying down into the 

 short heather. We kept our attention centred in this direction 

 for fully a quarter of an hour and not having seen a sign of 

 her in the meanwhile we decided to commence a search. As 

 we rose, the bird flew up at our feet ! The nest was just in 

 front of us with young newly hatched. With amazing cunning 

 the bird had crept through the heather from the place where 

 we first lost sight of her and had managed to reach her destina- 

 tion unobserved in spite of the fact that we were within a 

 very few feet of the nest all the time. 



After the nesting season is over family parties consisting 

 of parents and young still remain for several weeks in the 

 vicinity of their nesting places, or at times join forces with a 

 similar party from the next haunt, and as these parties and 

 gatherings are frequently to be met with later on and even 

 throughout the winter months, it seems probable that in 

 mild seasons, at any rate, they seldom wander far from their 

 old haunts. 



