136 LOCH CRERAN. 



wandered through the sphagnum, that is gradually re- 

 asserting its sway over the fields these moist years, until 

 we arrived under the fir trees, where the long-limbed 

 birds do annually congregate for nesting purposes. The 

 heron is one of the first birds to commence building, but 

 not a sign of herons or nests was to be seen, and even 

 those of last year had, without exception, been blown to 

 the last twig out of the trees. It was quite clear they 

 had no intention as yet of setting to work ; and the gales 

 that have once more returned, to whistle all the day and 

 shriek all night through the woods, are not such as to 

 induce these unwieldy birds to fly about with over-balanc- 

 ing sticks among the tree tops. At anyrate, both herons 

 and rooks, regardless of blooming primroses and wonder- 

 fully green hillsides and fields, await with dignified 

 patience the proper time, so that they must have an 

 almanac to go by, of which we poor mortals have not 

 been able to discover the secret. 



The huge tree is leaning across the road, and its roots 

 will carry a stretch of paling along with them should they 

 turn up to the heavy gale, so the saw is hard at work 

 through the tough roots of the beech where they have 

 buttressed up the stem. Ominous cracks come suddenly : 

 and as the blast strikes with a warning howl and a ' sough,' 

 the mass is toppled over, and falls with a crash that gives 

 a schoolboy-surge of delight to the most callous onlooker. 

 Enormous branches, like young monarchs themselves, 

 stretch onward in a circle eight or ten feet from the 

 ground, and two of them are bound indissolubly together. 

 A good foot through is the joining, and it is hard as 

 heart of oak ; for the beech is a hard tree of itself, and 

 this portion is particularly so. We stand and watch the 

 axe playing upon the joining, curious to observe how the 



