196 HILL BIRDS OF SCOTLAND 



Amid such surroundings of grandeur and solitude 

 the Greenshank had her home. And not far from her 

 nest, on the far side of a narrow belt of pines, a second 

 pair of birds had made their haunt in the earlier part of 

 the season. Their scrapes I found — in the shelter of the 

 inevitable fir branches — and also what I think was the true 

 nest, placed against a small tree stump ; but of the eggs, 

 or of the birds themselves, there were no signs. I am 

 doubtful, even, whether the bird whose nest forms the 

 illustration to this chapter hatched off her brood. 



On June 12th I visited her nesting site for the purpose 

 of photographing the young Greenshanks. As I passed 

 through the trees bordering the moss I heard curious 

 chortling cries which I am at a loss to describe, or to liken 

 to any other note in the bird world, proceeding from a 

 tree a few yards distant. On the very summit of this 

 tree was perched my friend the Greenshank, but almost 

 at once she took her departure, uttering her characteristic 

 wild whistle. I crossed over to the nest and found the eggs 

 had gone, but there were no signs of small pieces of egg- 

 shell lying in the nest — and these should have been present 

 if the young had been safely hatched. I returned to the 

 moss later in the day, coming across from the opposite 

 quarter, but failed to see or hear the parent bird again, 

 although I searched a good extent of the nesting area. 

 It would almost seem as though the eggs had been taken, 

 for the Greenshank when she has young is usually the 

 most anxious of parents, fluttering above the head of the 

 person crossing her ground and uttering wild cries of alarm. 

 Her anxiety for her young continues even after these 

 have reached the age at which they are strong on the 

 wing, as the following incident will show. One early 

 morning of mid- July I was approaching a certain hill loch 

 which lay far below me, with waters unruffled by even 

 the faintest breeze. Through the glass I was watching 



