The Land of the Hills and the Glens 



to choose the very highest and most inaccessible tree. But 

 here, on the Atlantic seaboard, no woods are present, so 

 that the heron must content herself with a ledge on a rock, 

 or the branches of a small and stunted tree. 



And it is full early in the season that the heron builds 

 her nest. It is, indeed, always a race between her and the 

 raven as to who shall lay the first tg^ of the year. I do 

 not think there is much to choose between them ; anyhow 

 it is a matter of a day or two at the most, and often the 

 frost is very keen at this season, and the snow covers all 

 the length of the glen. But it was on a day of soft winds 

 and clear sunlight — the date was March i6 — that I first saw 

 the " Glen of the Herons " and visited their colony. 



On the shores of the loch below many common gulls 

 were mating, and their glad cries echoed among the rocks. 

 Though the air had in it the breath of spring no growth was 

 as yet showing amongst the hill grasses or the plants of bog 

 myrtle, and the hillsides looked more brown and bare by 

 reason of the strong sunlight upon them. As I made my 

 way up the glen I could see before me many pairs of herons 

 standing in ungainly positions on the branches of their tree, 

 and as I approached they one by one took wing with harsh 

 grating cries, and flew off to alight on some flat rocks near. 

 Very curious did they look as they stood thus, outlined 

 against the sky. But two of their colony were more reluctant 

 to leave, rising indeed from their nests and eyeing me 

 angrily, but not taking wing until I was almost under their 

 tree. 



These two birds had commenced to lay — in one nest there 

 Avere two eggs, in the other but one — but the remainder of 

 the nests were only in various stages of repair and con- 

 struction. Some were almost finished and already lined with 

 bracken, while others had nothing but the rough platform 

 completed. In all there were eight nests on this small oak, 

 and two more built on ledges of rock against which the tree 



had grown. 



72 



