SIDE IvIGHTS ON BIRDS 



lakes. That which is not mud is bog, and that 

 which is not bog is lake, and that which is not lake 

 is sea, and the whole is a labyrinth of islands, 

 peninsulas, promontories, bays, and channels." 

 This picture of the quaint little Hebridean spot 

 which is sandwiched between North and South 

 Uist, is not, of course, literally true : but it pro- 

 duces the same sort of mental confusion which 

 attends a sight of the place itself, and so has an 

 artistic value. When a man leaves the Craigorry 

 Inn on the southern shore and wanders forth 

 unattended, he finds himself in a most bewilder- 

 ing network of land and water. As he rounds 

 one heathery mound he discovers that the loch 

 has stretched a cunning arm right across his 

 path, and he is just about to retire discomfited, 

 when he observes that the land has retaliated by 

 throwing out a bridge to what a moment before 

 appeared to be an inaccessible island. This 

 trellised configuration makes walking difficult 

 but it has distinct advantages for the bird watcher. 

 The cliff species, the guillemots and gannets, are 

 not much in evidence, although one or two of 

 the latter may go over at times on their broad 

 white black-tipped wings, but the place is a very 

 paradise for the waterfowl. Wild swans, geese, 

 ducks of many kinds including the eider — for 

 many of the winding waterways are really arms 

 of the sea — find here a congenial home. Snipe 

 spring from the reedy pools, lapwings wheel in 

 the air, ringed plover, oyster-catchers, turnstone 

 and sometimes the rarer bar-tailed godwit, run 

 hither and thither ; on the shingly banks ; and the 

 interesting thing is that by reason of the sudden 

 turns and of land and water, you find yourself 

 constantly in close proximity to species that 

 normally keep you at a respectful distance. 



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