94 BIRD-LIFE IN WEST-HIGHLAND PARISH 



The area in question, from its very varied 

 natural features, is favourable to such observa- 

 tion. Lofty mountains, their foot-hills sloping 

 to a great fresh- water loch, natural woods and 

 copses, bleak moorlands with their streams and 

 marshes, cultivated ground to some small extent, 

 and here and there the tended grounds and 

 gardens of modern civilisation, afford congenial 

 surroundings for many diverse species ; and, as 

 might be expected, they are here in very con- 

 siderable variety. Within the limits of a wide- 

 spreading Highland parish, no less than 101 

 species have been observed ; and of these 42 

 have been found within an area of only one acre 

 and a half, while 19 different species have nested 

 within this latter very limited space. Nor must 

 this be taken as the sum of our feathered neigh- 

 bours ; others are almost certainly yet to be 

 noted, although up to now they have eluded 

 absolute identification. 



To begin with the king of them all, the golden 

 eagle, known in Gaelic as 'Fireun' 'true bird/ 

 that is * the bird ' par excellence, still nests 

 within our area, but not apparently in increasing 

 numbers, although unmolested. One reason for 

 this may be the marked diminution in the num- 

 ber of the blue hares, which seem to be yearly 

 scarcer. His congener, the sea eagle, is, alas! 



