WILD LIFE IN A WEST HIGHLAND DEER FOREST 259 



grine Falcon, Kestrel, and Curlew ; on the moorland or 

 marshy ground, the Skylark (rare), Whinchat, *Red Grouse, 

 Merlin, Lapwing, Snipe, Dunlin, and Greenshank. Among 

 the more or less aquatic species are the Reed-Bunting, 

 Pied Wagtail, *Dipper, *Heron, *Mallard, Teal, *Waterhen, 

 Common Sandpiper, Black-throated Diver, and Little Grebe. 

 All of these are nesting species. 



The woods deserve special notice. Not only do they 

 contribute greatly to the picturesqueness of their romantic 

 surroundings, but their bird-life adds an unique feature to 

 the area, for they are the home of a number of forms that 

 one would not expect to find in the heart of a Highland Deer 

 Forest. These sylvan retreats, with their wealth of insect- 

 life, constitute a veritable oasis amid the wilderness of 

 mountains and moorlands, and are sought each spring by 

 numerous warblers and other delicate immigrants some of 

 which have passed the winter far off in the tropics of Africa, 

 others in the basin of the Mediterranean, or in south-western 

 Europe. In addition they are the congenial homes of many 

 familiar resident species. The woodlands clothe the hill- 

 slopes which fringe the lower half of Loch Ossian, and cover 

 an area of some 500 acres, and rise from the water's edge 

 at 1269 feet to a height of 1550 and 1700 feet on the north 

 and south respectively. Foremost in interest among these 

 attractive haunts is a natural unenclosed birch wood, cover- 

 ing nearly 100 acres, which adorns a steep face on the south 

 side of the loch. Birch forms the staple of its growth, but 

 there is besides a sprinkling of rowans, alders, willows, and 

 bird-cherries. Many of the trees are of great age, indeed 

 venerable patriarchs decked with shaggy beards composed 

 of the lichen Usnea barbata. There is a considerable amount 

 of low undergrowth composed of blaeberry and an abund- 

 ance of ferns ; while in the more open portions of the wood 

 there is much heather, amid which a few Red Grouse rear 

 their young. The trees thin out at 1600 feet, but groups, more 

 or less isolated, are found up to 1700 feet. This wood holds, 

 it is believed, the unique status of being the highest patch 

 of deciduous forest in Scotland, perhaps in Britain ; hence a 

 number of the birds frequenting it probably reach here the 



