Summer in the Western Highlands 



instances had comparatively small young, though these must 

 have been the result of a second brood, and eider duck still 

 had young in the downy state. 



Most variable weather conditions were experienced during 

 the first ten days of August. On the ist there was a heavy 

 rainstorm and wind from the south-west, and from the 4th 

 to the nth there was thick fog almost daily. On land the 

 mist usually disappeared about midday, but over the sea 

 it remained in the form of a dense white cloud, on which 

 the sun shone brightly. Shipping was much interfered with 

 during, this period, and on the western coast this fog was 

 held to be the most dense and persistent experienced for many 

 years. 



Stonechats were tending their second broods through 

 August, showing the usual symptoms of alarm when their 

 "beat" was approached. A certain pair of buzzards were 

 still feeding their young in the early days of the month, 

 in the face of a rock on a wild plateau over one thousand 

 feet above sea level and overlooking the Atlantic. On the 

 loth I put up a snipe with a young bird beside her, scarcely 

 able to fly. These very late broods of the snipe are not 

 unusual, for they seem, like the woodcock, to rear a second 

 brood when the summer is well on. 



Willow warblers, after their silence in July during their 

 autumn moult, were in song again in early August, though 

 as a rule their vocal efforts were feebler than earlier in the 

 season. The last I heard was on August 19, and his song 

 was strong out of the ordinary for so late in the 

 summer. On that date, too, I saw a migration of missel 

 thrushes and ring ouzels, the birds resting on the banks of a 

 hill burn on their journey south. Even as late as the last 

 week of the month some of the merganser broods still 

 consisted of quite small birds. 



The last days of August were remarkable for their 

 wonderful clearness and for the contrasts in light and shade 

 which they produced. In some districts tropical showers fell, 



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