Winter in the Western Highlands 



waders, they have a strip of white feathers extending over and 

 behind the eye, and seem to have some white on the fore- 

 head also. They resemble in size the golden plover, but are 

 more handsome and conspicuous in their winter plumage. 

 In their feeding the grey plover frequent the mud flats, 

 often consorting with flocks of smaller waders, whereas the 

 golden plover seem to prefer the green fields adjoining the 

 sea. 



Many herring gulls were busy breaking the shells of 

 mussels by dropping them from a height, so that they might 

 feed on their luckless owners. Several excursions into the 

 air were often necessary before the shell was broken, and one 

 gull that I watched dropped its mussel no fewer than a 

 dozen times without result, and succeeded in breaking it only 

 at the thirteenth effort. 



On the 1 6th, a clear, frosty day, with two inches of snow 

 on the ground, I watched a pair of red-breasted mergansers 

 courting. With much bowing and outstretching of the neck 

 the drake circled round the duck, both birds swimming very 

 near together. On the 24th a large flock of godwit and knot 

 performed wonderful evolutions in the strong wind before 

 alighting to feed. A number of great northern divers are 

 meanwhile distributed along the coast. I think I am right 

 in saying that this diver remains under water longer and 

 moves farther during submersion than any other bird. A 

 dive of ninety seconds' duration is not unusual, and during 

 this time the bird is all the while moving rapidly beneath 

 the water. 



3. FEBRUARY 



THE month was not many days old when a severe storm of 

 wind and snow swept from the north-east across the Western 

 Highlands . At the entrance to the lonel^ sea loch a heavy sea 

 was running, so that the spray broke in clouds over the little 

 rocky island where the storm petrel has her home in summer. 

 All day and through the night the wind raged, but at day- 

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