276 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [cuap. xxxv 
distance from home—always, however, if allowed so to do, bring- 
ing home their broods as soon as they are hatched. At other 
seasons they never seem inclined to wander, though they are 
always to be seen at the very earliest dawn of the morning, before 
it is quite light, spread out over the grass-field adjoining the 
house, hunting it in a regular line: of advance for worms and 
snails. As the evening comes on, too, it is amusing to see them 
bent on the same pursuit, and displaying the greatest activity 
and skill in catching the large evening moths, as these insects 
rise from the grass or fly low over it. 
