l 3 o THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



away. The Merlin had its nest on the face of a high crag, on 

 a ledge overgrown with heather, it contained one egg. In 

 the same crag with the Merlin an enormous bird flew off her 

 nest it was a Grey Lag Goose, and the nest contained six 

 eggs ; this was a most unusual site for a nest of the Goose, 

 being about 700 feet above sea and loch level and about half 

 a mile from any water they usually nest down on a loch and 

 close to the water's edge in the heather. I noticed Thrushes 

 singing here, also a pair of Ring Ouzels, Wheatears, Titlarks, 

 and a Great Northern Diver on the loch far away below us. 

 We had expected to find the Peregrine breeding here, but 

 were, as usual, disappointed in this bird. Tree-pipits and 

 Wrens were also present here, and on a small loch down 

 below us Otters must have been common, as their tracks, 

 fish-scales, droppings, etc., were everywhere to be seen. 



Sunday, 20th May, I visited the Harrier's and Merlin's 

 nests, then went in quest of Red-throated Divers and found 

 two nests, from both of which I put off the old birds, but 

 both were empty. These birds seem to have quite different 

 breeding habits from Colymbus arcticus ; the latter breeds on 

 islands on lochs, the former on the margins of small pools, 

 with soft, mossy, oozy edges, the water being deep and 

 stagnant. The nest is placed close to the edge of the water 

 and has a kind of impressed track up from the water to 

 the nest, which latter is a depression in the soft green 

 moss, with a few flags round its edge. Such was the nature 

 of the three nests of the Redthroat in the Hebrides this year. 



In the afternoon the steamer entered Loch Eport and 

 anchored, waiting for the flood tide to get up the loch to the 

 landing stage. We accordingly hailed her, hoping to get a 

 boat put off to fetch us on board, but they heeded us not ; 

 this being so we had to shank it up the loch side, and a rough 

 road it proved to be. However, after walking miles in a 

 broiling sun and fording three inlets of the sea, varying in 

 depth from just a little over our knees to within six inches of 

 our armpits, we reached the steamer and got safely on board. 

 I said " Good-bye " to Donald, without whose aid I could 

 have done little or nothing, and so ended my short but 

 delightful tour in the Western Highlands. 



