On Mountain and Loch. 93 



we have at sea-level the marine lochs or fiords, 

 another almost exclusive Scottish feature, the nearest 

 approach to them, so far as our experience extends, 

 being some of the charming land-locked rivers or 

 fiords in the south-west of England. Some few of 

 the birds that we meet with on or about these lochs 

 may be seen in many a southern shire at one season 

 or another, but on the other hand there is a predomi- 

 nating number of species that stamps the avifauna of 

 these northern localities with distinctness. Many of 

 these lochs are grandly picturesque, surrounded as 

 they are with lofty mountains and rolling uplands; 

 their solitude in not a few cases is intense. No 

 wonder that some of our shyest birds resort to them, 

 especially as they present the additional attraction 

 of abundance of food. Upon the shores of some 

 of them we have come across the rare Greenshank ; 

 on others in the Hebrides the Red-necked Phala- 

 rope (gentlest and most trustful of all wading birds) 

 lives in colonies during the summer. From time 

 to time the various Plovers and Sandpipers resort 

 to their shallow margin, coming there to feed from 

 nesting-places on the moors. Now and then in 

 certain fa\oured spots the shadow of the Osprey 

 — rarest, perhaps, of all our indigenous birds of 

 prey — is reflected in the calm unruffled water as the 

 bird soars over, and perhaps drops down upon some 

 surface-floating fish. Our first introduction to the 



