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THE ZOOLOGIST. 



rookie — "give him his coppers, &c." — sounds now here and 

 there. I can make out no birds, but from the sounds, some 

 seem to be down, and might even be fighting. Very loud, harsh 

 and fierce, now, are the " tir-whays " (or " choc-heys"), and a 

 white tail or two, as I think, gleams for a moment through the 

 mist and frost of the bog — for it is in a part of a large swampy 

 "peat-hag" or "moss" — which is the Swedish word — only just 

 crossable, that the birds gather or should gather. I can see one 

 now, clearly, and then the black body — blacker than night — 

 whilst, from the sounds, birds seem to be flying and leaping, 

 here and there, over the ground. The only one, however, that I 

 can see distinctly, and keep in view, seems to be pretty quiet. 

 Eookling comes all round about, now, as light slowly struggles 

 out of the darkness. Before this, too, I have heard the plaintive- 

 sounding, but really bellicose, " choc-choc-kerada " note. Now, 

 however, when morning has really come, I can make out no 

 birds. 



Yes, one now — a coal-black blot. But the early pause has 

 come, and there are none on the arena. Frost is over moss, 

 grass, and bog-heather, and amidst the sombre green of the fir- 

 trees the slender white stems of the birches — here mere saplings 

 — slash the air in innumerable perpendicular cuts. All the sky 

 to the westward is now a deep, dusky blue — almost purple — 

 whilst slowly, from the eastern horizon, a brightness begins to 

 climb. The silence and still beauty of the scene is impressive, 

 and one might think that the birds were impressed with it, 

 since, for a considerable time, now, there has not been a note 

 of one. 



Now, after a long interval, and in broad daylight — though 

 the sun has not yet topped the firs, only fired them a little — 

 the whirbling recommences, having been preceded by the 

 harsher note. 



A hen bird now flies down into the arena, and is courted first 

 by one and then another cock that I had not seen before. She 

 alights at some distance from either, and one comes over to her 

 some time before the other. He courts her much in the way 

 of the common Pheasant, passing by her, first on one side and 

 then the other, and, as he does so, tilts his whole body sideways 

 and downwards, towards her, so that she gets a near view of its 



