1890-91.] Birds of the Great Glen. 441 



bog-myrtle, coarse grasses, &c., that seems to extend endlessly 

 in waves upon waves, each one higher than the last, until the 

 undulations die away dimly in the distance and merge into 

 the great peaks of Glen Affaric and distant Eoss, enveloped in 

 haze or mist. Amidst these barren wastes lie numerous tarns, 

 and from them issue tiny streams that ultimately reach to the 

 dignity of burns, and, in winter or heavy rainfall, to roaring 

 torrents. Such localities give ample scope for the breeding 

 of peewits, golden plovers, snipes, curlews, various kinds of 

 gulls, redshanks, ducks, and so on. Come lower down and 

 you find the clumps of whins and junipers tenanted by the 

 common and mountain linnets, ring-ousels, and other small 

 species, while in the depth of winter the snow-bunting revels 

 amidst those sterile and deserted wilds. Lower down still we 

 observe, in summer, the wheatear haunting the dry - stone 

 dykes, the titlark chirping uneasily on the open moor, hence 

 its Scottish patronymic of moss-cheeper ; while in the portions 

 nearer the glen yellow buntings, chaffinches, corn-buntings, 

 robins, and whinchats are by no means rarities. 



The glen is populous : several fair-sized villages exist ; and, 

 in fact, almost everywhere cottages crop up singly or in 

 groups, called in Gaelic " bailtean," many of them in situa- 

 tions to charm the eye of the artist, although it is proble- 

 matical if any idea of issthetic effect ever entered into the 

 heads of the builders when choosing their respective sites. 

 Being almost completely surrounded by high mountains, this 

 valley escapes to a great extent those biting easterly and nor- 

 therly winds that are so detrimental to tree and plant life, 

 and, as a natural result, birds find a greater corresponding 

 wealth of shelter and facility for rearing their young com- 

 pared with many less favoured localities. Having regard, 

 however, to the fact that this paper is intended to illustrate 

 the ornithology of the district, and not to be devoted to its 

 amenity, nothing more need be said by way of prelude, as 

 half-a-dozen papers, at least, would hardly suffice to adequately 

 portray the beauties of the glen. 



To recapitulate separately all the various species would be 

 wearisome, so instead of that I propose to append at the end 

 of the paper a complete list of all those that have actually 

 come under my own observation, including, in addition, all 



VOL. II. 2 G 



