72 WILR SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [cHAP. VIII. 
sun, has more the appearance of some Eastern or tropical bird 
than any other of our sober northern finches. When engaged 
in feeding, these birds are often so intent on their occupation that 
they will allow a horsehair snare, attached to the end of a long 
twig, to be slipped round their necks before they fly away. In 
captivity they are very tame, but restless, and are constantly 
tearing with their strong mandibles at the woodwork and wires 
of their cage. 
Altogether the crossbill is a gay, lively bird, and, I hope, 
likely to increase and become a regular inhabitant of this 
country, as the numerous plantations of fir and larch which are 
daily being laid out, afford them plenty of their favourite and 
natural food. 
The eastern coast of Scotland, owing to its proximity to 
Sweden and Norway, and also to the great prevalence of easterly 
winds, is often visited by foreign birds. Amongst these is that 
splendid stranger the snowy owl, who occasionally is blown over 
to our coast from his native fastnesses amongst the mountains and 
forests of the north of Europe. Now and then one of these 
birds is killed here, and I was told of one having been seen two 
or three years back on part of the ground rented by me. He 
was sitting on a high piece of muirland, and at a distance 
looked, said my: informant, “like a milestone.” This bird was 
pursued for some hours, but was not killed. The snowy owl 
has been also seen, to the astonishment of the fisherman or bent- 
puller, on the sand-hills, where he finds plenty of food amongst 
the rabbits that abound there. One was winged in that district 
a few years ago, and lived for some time in confinement. He 
was a particularly fine old bird, with perfect plumage, and of a 
great size. Iam much inclined to think that the great-eared 
owl, Strix bubo, is also occasionally a visitor to the wildest 
parts of this district. A man described to me a large bird, 
which he called an eagle. The bird was sitting on a fir-tree, 
and his attention was called to it by the grey crows uttering 
their cries of alarm and war. He went up to the tree, and close 
above his head sat a great bird, with large staring yellow eyes, 
as bright (so he expressed it) as two brass buttons. The man 
stooped to pick up a stone or stick, and the bird dashed off the 
tree into the recesses of the wood, and was not seen again. I 
