THE JOURNEY UP. 71 



as we neared Quickiock. " Let's see the field 

 and mark it well, for here will be the battle." 

 This was to be our station for months. We knew 

 nothing of the fauna of the district, and it 

 remained to be proved what rarities we should 

 find in the solitudes of the forests and fells in 

 which this little village is embedded. The country 

 certainly looked unpromising at present. The 

 woods were small, and the huge snow-capped fells 

 rising above the limits of all vegetation, seemed to 

 offer no fitting home for any other bird than the 

 ptarmigan ; but we little imagined how the whole 

 face of the country would change as by magic 

 when spring once fairly set in, for it seemed to us 

 almost an impossibility that in a few weeks these 

 huge snow masses would " dissolve in silent dew," 

 and the river which we were now crossing over a 

 coat of ice four feet thick would be all open water. 

 About three we drove up to the little village of 

 Quickiock, and our long, monotonous journey was 

 at an end. The village itself has not much to 

 boast of except its naturally beautiful situation, 

 which in summer is about as romantic as can well 

 be imagined. Four dwelling-houses constitute the 

 whole village, but, as is always the case in the 

 north, there are so many outhouses, sheds, and 

 buildings, attached to each dwelling, that one 

 house with its offices seems to form half a village. 



