THE BIRDS OF A NORTHERN LOCH 59 



for the first time he will exclaim, Is this 

 all? For there before him is a small 

 piece of water, with high heather banks 

 all round it ; for about two hundred 

 yards you can see water, and beyond 

 that just the black heather-walls. You 

 step into the small rowing-boat, and 

 when you have gone a short distance 

 you see that the loch branches out in 

 many water passages that were hidden 

 from your view when you started in the 

 boat. Presently you come to a big open 

 tract of water, with dozens of islands upon 

 it, some rock-covered and bare, others 

 one mass of tall heather, yet others a 

 brilliant emerald green with the young 

 grass all over their surface. Some are 

 covered with brambles and beautiful ferns, 

 and the water between all these islets is 

 a blue that keeps company with the sky 

 above. But what a bleak wild place it 

 all is ! Not a bush or tree in sight, 

 nothing taller than the heather, and 



