Winter in the Western Highlands 



soon he sank behind the hills to the south-west, and the wa'ers 

 took on a steel-blue colour. North-westward one saw the un- 

 dulating outline of one of the Outer Hebrides, the higher 

 ground snowbound. And so the winter night descended 

 apace. The wind, too, died down, and with the darkness 

 the frost descended on the western coast and bound the land 

 in its firm grip. 



On the nth of the month I watched a large flock of 

 green plover apparently migrating north. The wind was 

 against them, and they were flying high and making slow 

 progress. On the 24th I visited a nesting site of the raven. 

 The day was a grand one, clear and sunny, with the sea 

 as calm as a hill loch on a breezeless day. A three-mile 

 row brought me to a narrow rock-girt gully running down 

 from the heather-clad hillside above, to where the surf 

 grinds the smooth, rounded pebbles at its entrance. The 

 gully is full open to the south, and when a south-westerly 

 gale blows, great rollers thunder in, so that at times the spray 

 is borne even to the sheltered ledge on which the raven has 

 her nest. One of the Gaelic-speaking fishermen who rowed 

 me informed me that on the previous day he had seen four 

 ravens leave the rock, but it was not until I had landed 

 and stood almost beneath the nest that the owner flew cut. 

 Apparently she was already sitting, but I was not able to 

 see into the nest, as this was built in a position inaccessible 

 except with the aid of a rope. For a time the raven 

 flew round restlessly, then disappeared; but a few minutes 

 later at least three birds flew quickly past. It is unusual 

 for several of these birds to be seen together during the 

 spring of the year, and it may be that on this occasion 

 the two parent birds were engaged in expelling, or attempt- 

 ing to expel, one of their offspring of the previous season. 



These rough notes may be of interest as showing the 

 remarkable contrasts in weather and the variety of bird life 

 to be met with during an average year in that Land of the 

 Hills and the Glens adjoining the Atlantic. 



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