176 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



of rock and fallen trunks, green with the softest 

 moss, bar the footsteps at every turn. At length, 

 as we creep from the darker recesses, we find our- 

 selves in the open. We have reached a heathery 

 ledge bared to the sun and sky, the clifT here falling 

 so abruptly and so far, that the tops of the highest 

 fir-trees growing below barely reach the level of our 

 feet. A vast and varied prospect is spread before 

 us. Beneath, the great loch extends, dotted with 

 innumerable isles, about the rocky harbours of 

 which the Wild Ducks and Mergansers pilot their 

 tinv fleets. On the farther shore the white line of 

 the road can be made out as it rises and falls amidst 

 the dark green of the heather. To the right, in 

 the valley, we can just catch the winding gleam of 

 the river above the point where it enters the loch, 

 and around and above all, tower the innumerable 

 hills, mere rocky screes and heathery slopes in the 

 nearer distance, but as thev draw to the horizon, 

 taking on fainter hues of azure, and rose and gold, 

 and seeming to be fashioned in mist. 



But as we gaze we become aware of certain bird- 

 forms moving in the fir-trees beneath us. The little 

 party come forward like Titmice, the leaders utter- 

 ing a sharp " zip-zip-zip " as they alight. They seem 

 to be utterly devoid of fear, and standing a few feet 

 above them, we can mark the varied colour of their 

 plumage and the curious twisted formation of the 

 bill. Some are of a greenish hue mottled with 

 brown, and others, the adult males, of a beautiful 

 red tinged with faint orange and green, with darker 

 wings. 



Here they remain, grasping the boughs parrot- 



