CH. I. DIVERS AND WILD GEESE. 9 



order to see what birds were breeding there. We 

 first made for a small island covered with the 

 brightest green foliage that I ever saw, which, how- 

 ever, turned out to be nothing but the wild leek. 

 The nature of the plant was most unpleasantly 

 forced upon my observation by the very strong 

 scent the leaves produced when trodden upon. 



There were three of these beautiful birds (the 

 black-throated diver) on the loch, but no eggs. 

 On some of the other islands were a number of 

 wild-geese (Anser ferus), the original kind from 

 which our common domestic goose is derived. 

 They had two or three nests on one island, but we 

 found no eggs. Their nests were large and quite 

 exposed, consisting of a large mass of down, kept 

 together by coarse grass and herbage. The old 

 birds, when disturbed, flew off the island, some of 

 them alighting on the loch, and others on the short 

 green grass about the edge of the water, where they 

 commenced grazing after the manner of tame geese. 

 Having procured one or two specimens of the black- 

 throated diver, I landed, and sat down to enjoy the 

 magnificent scenery and all its accompaniments. 

 The peewit, redshank, curlew, and golden plover 

 kept up a constant warfare of clamour against me 

 for some time, till, 'finding that I did not molest 

 them, they gradually returned to their domestic 



