The "Annus Mirabilis" of Dryden--1870 a more wonderful Year in its way than 1666--Winter--Number of Killed and Wounded in the Franco-Prussian War--Battles of Langside, Tippermuir, Cappel--Carrier Pigeons--The Velocity with which Birds fly, 86 CHAPTER XVII. Signs of a severe Winter--The Little Auk or Auklet--The Gadwall--Falcons being trained by the Prussians to intercept the Paris Carrier Pigeons--Ballooning--The King of Prussia's Piety--John Forster--Solar Eclipse of 22d December 1870--The Government and the Eclipse--Large Solar Spots--Visible to the naked eye--Rev. Dr. Cumming--November Meteors, 94 CHAPTER XVIII. November Rains: 1500 tons per Imperial Acre!--Rainfall in Skye--An old Gaelic Apologue--The Drover and his Minister--Grand Stag's Head--Scott as a Poet--Mr. Gladstone and Scott--An old Lullaby from the Gaelic, 99 CHAPTER XIX. Winter--Auroral Displays in the West Highlands always indicative of a coming Storm--Corvus Corax--Wonderful Ravens--Edgar Allan Poe, 106 CHAPTER XX. Along the Shore after Birds--An Otter in pursuit of a Fish--Tame Otter at Bridge of Tilt: Employed in Fishing--His hatred of all sorts of Birds--"The Otter and Fox," a translation from the Gaelic, 114 CHAPTER XXI. Storms--An "inch" of Rain--Atherina Presbyter--Lophius Piscatorius--Mr. Mortimer Collins' misquotation from the Times, 121 CHAPTER XXII. Aurora Borealis--Unfavourable weather for Birds about St. Valentine's Day--The Water-Vole in the Rhi--In the Eden in Fifeshire--In the Black Water, Kinloch Leven--Does it feed on Salmon Fry and Ova?--The Kingfisher--Character of the Water-Vole--Note about the Hedgehog, 127 CHAPTER XXIII. March--The Story of a Spanish Dollar--The Spanish Armada--The "Florida"--Faire-Chlaidh, or Watching of the Graveyard--Molehill Earth for Flowers, 133 CHAPTER XXIV. The Beauty of the West Highland Seaboard--Dr. Aiton of Dolphinton--Dr. Norman Macleod--Specimen of Turtle-Dove (Columba Turtur) shot in Ardgour--The belief on the Continent of its value as a Household Pet--Bechstein--Male Birds dropping Eggs in confinement, 140 CHAPTER XXV. Thunderstorm--Potato Field in Bloom--The Hazel Tree--Hazel Nuts--Potato Shaws for Cattle--Ferns for Bedding Cattle--Marmion--Scott, 144 CHAPTER XXVI. Harvest--Scythe and Sickle v. Reaping Machines--Potatoes--Garibaldi and Potatoes at Caprera--Fishing--Platessa Gemmatus, or Diamond Plaice--Mushrooms--The Poetry of Fairy Rings--Harvest-Home, 150 CHAPTER XXVII.