THE GOOSE. 109 



seasons I have made particular inquiries of the most 

 competent persons at these breeding-places in Suther- 

 landshire, where the bean goose has been said to be 

 found ; and the descriptions of the only kind of 

 goose known by them to breed in the country have 

 always been referable to the gray-leg. Everywhere I 

 examined the bird with a glass, and in several in- 

 stances shot specimens, and all I saw or obtained 

 were gray-leg. The gray-leg chooses various kinds of 

 places for its nest. I have seen, in Sutherland, nests 

 on the open moor, but not very far from a loch, 

 and again within 2 or 3 feet of the water's edge ; 

 but generally they are on islets in the sea or in fresh 

 water. It would be difficult to find anything more 

 beautiful than the little islets in some of the Highland 

 lochs to the lover of nature in general, but to an 

 ornithologist they are surpassingly so. None have 

 made greater impression upon me than two on a 

 retired piece of water in Sutherlandshire ; they were 

 very small, rising up somewhat steeply, and were 

 covered with long heather and other plants bedded 

 in the most luxuriant moss. In each were two or 

 three little trees, and in each was a huge nest of the 

 sea eagle, fixed so near the ground that a child could 

 see into it; one nest some years old, the other 

 repaired that season. Hooded crows built in the 

 branches over the newer nest ; and in spite of the 

 frequent visits of the eagles, a wild duck had its nest 

 not many yards off, and geese bred there regularly. 

 The other islet had been burnt several years before 

 to dislodge a fox, and now its bright, young heather 

 again formed an excellent cover. A pair of black- 



