152 FOREST CREATURES. 



the air, and approaching nearer and nearer, and then 

 with a rustle alighting on the clearing. Or, not un- 

 likely, you ma.y previously have caught a quavering tone 

 uttered from time to time, low and rather quackingl}^ 

 This is the hen, who from some low tree announces her 

 neio^hbourhood. On the broad snow-fields in the moun- 

 tains it is the same. There, amid the stillness, you may 

 hear the rustling and the chuckle long before the 

 sun has touched the peaks overhead ; and on the white 

 surface you may see black forms dancing and fluttering 

 in circles as if held within a magic ring. Before the 

 hour of their arrival therefore, early though it be, you 

 must be at your post. And hard is the labour if it be 

 some mountain side you have chosen for your sport. 

 For at this season there is much snow, and as the surface 

 now will not bear, you have to wade along, sinking at 

 every step to your knee or to your waist. However, be 

 it where it may, the snow-field or a forest glade, jon 

 must have a rude hut made of branches to shelter you 

 from observation. For the black cock is shy, wild, 

 sharp-sighted, and with a fine sense of smell, and but for 

 the madness which possesses him in the pairing-season, 

 even the precaution of such a shelter would hardly 

 avail much. Once there, you await the things which are 

 to come. 



But in order to be exact, the following details are 

 given of an excursion to Bohemia for the purpose of 



