The Land of the Hills and the Glens 



sail towards one and alight, almost at one's feet, still call- 

 ing. And with the coming of daybreak, one is awakened by 

 their note — a note that must always have a special charm 

 for one who is a lover of the wild and mist-swept places — 

 and may watch them as they come down from the hills to 

 alight at their feeding grounds near the pool. I know the 

 curlew and his haunts as well as most, and I can safely 

 say that in no place have I seen and heard so many of their 

 tribe as near the banks of this sea pool. 



During March and April the cry of the green plover 

 rings often in the ear — for do they not nest within a stone's 

 throw of the pool ? — and the flute-like calls of a pair of red- 

 shanks that with each season make their nest in the rough 

 grass hard by carry far in the stillness of an April evening. 



And then, with the coming of May, the birches of the 

 hillside above the pool become tinged with the most delicate 

 green, and before the soft southerly breeze they sway with 

 feather-like motion. And from them for the first time since 

 the summer of the past year come the clear notes of the 

 cuckoo, and the sweet and plaintive song of the willow 

 warbler. From them, too, the tree pipit — newly arrived from 

 Africa — flies up perpendicularly into the blue sky, and as he 

 sails leisurely downward to his favourite perch, utters his 

 cheery song. 



And now, the river banks welcome to themselves the 

 sandpiper, straight from his southern winter quarters — 

 with pleasure one hears for the first time his "wheet, wheet, 

 wheet," as he wings his way rapidly up the water-side — and 

 when the birches are in full leaf, and even the late-budding 

 oaks have taken on a tinge of green, the nightjar may be 

 heard uttering in the twilight his husky notes. 



As spring gives place to summer, the hill grasses in the 

 high corries above the sea pool, where the ptarmigan croak 

 and the golden eagle sails on tireless wings, at length 

 take on a tinge of vivid green, and show up brightly against 

 the dark rocks. The sky is clear these days, and all Nature 



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