306 PRACTICAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



87. Starling. Sturnus varius. Flocks are sometimes seen in 



spring. 



88. Grey Phalarope. Plialaropus platyrhinclius. Has been 



shot near Newhaven. 



In most parts of Scotland similarly situated, such as Perth, 

 Dundee, Aberdeen, and Inverness, nearly the same species are 

 observed during the winter ; but in others, as the Hebrides 

 and Orkney and Shetland Islands, the number of species is 

 considerably less. In these latter districts the marine and 

 maritime species predominate, while in the former the land 

 birds are more numerous. A winter scene in the lowlands is 

 tame, and an excursion there during snow uninteresting, com- 

 pared with the scenery of the rugged and ocean-washed Hebrides, 

 and a shooting expedition among their dreary mountains and 

 pathless moors. 



Having in October 1817, as I find by one of my note-books, 

 left Borve in Harris, in company with the Reverend INIr. Alex- 

 ander Macleod, minister of the Forest district, I crossed the 

 sandford and hills of Luskentir, to the little Bay of Kindibig, 

 where we lodged with a farmer, who next day ferried us over 

 Loch Tarbert to a place called Urga. We remained there for 

 a night, and then continued our journey, proceeding up a long 

 craggy and bleak valley, in which is a very dark-coloured 

 lake, famous for a goblin-beast which is seen upon it in sum- 

 mer in the form of a black mass having three humps. " The 

 wind was exceedingly keen, the hail came in great showers, 

 and the summits of the mountains were covered with snow. I 

 left the parson a little above IMarig, a creek on Loch Seaforth, 

 in which was his dreary-looking habitation, and having re- 

 solved to ascend the highest hill, in order to witness a Hebri- 

 dian snow storm in all its glory, I proceeded toward Clisheim, 

 the height of which is estimated at somewhat more than three 

 thousand feet. In despite of hail and snow, and the furious 

 wdiirlwinds or eddying blasts that sw^ept the mountain at inter- 

 vals, I made my way, though not without labour, to the sum- 

 mit ; and well was I recompensed, for there I enjoyed a very 

 sublime spectacle. I was on the highest pinnacle of that range 



