MAGNIFICENCE OF A THUNDER-STORM 203 
bending the stiff tops of the lofty pines. Were a 
hurricane, or even a winter tempest, to invade the 
valley, rending off the massy limbs, and prostrating 
the old trunks, the scene would be terrific. We 
may fancy, too, the magnificence of a protracted 
thunder-storm — impenetrable gloom over all the 
forests, lightnings blazing, and thunders crashing; 
but I have never found imaginary scenes so instruc¬ 
tive as real occurrences, and that chiefly because 
they are radically unreal, and one knows them to 
be so. The wind has ceased, and the forest rests 
in solemn stillness. You can see far away into the 
forest, between the stems, which are destitute of 
branches to a great height. Here the ground is 
covered with luxuriant tufts of heather in full 
bloom; there the stones are coated with moss and 
lichens; and on that low knoll the continuous 
verdure is due to the yet fresh leaves of the 
Vactinium myvtillus.—Natural History of Deeside , 
p. 178. 
30 .—Merry-Making of Birds. 
The sun sent a gleam of light through the Pass 
of Ballater into the plain, and illumined the hill¬ 
tops on the western side, while their shadows 
spread far over the fields. The hill along the base 
of which I walked is covered with pines, and 
partly, opposite the village, with birches. Great 
numbers of chaffinches flew along from tree to tree, 
