JANUARY 13 



the ambition of adding another chapter to the ' Loves 

 of the Plants ' by importing his bride also, else there 

 will be unpleasantness. 



Meanwhile, although the appearance of this weed 

 on a sheet of ornamental water is nothing short of a 

 calamity, it is a calamity not without mitigation. The 

 angler may weep or swear, according to temperament 

 or sex; but great is the gain to the wild-fowler and 

 naturalist, for this succulent weed offers irresistible 

 attraction to numberless aquatic birds. Here, on the 

 White Loch of Myrtoun (which is the name of our 

 sanctuary), the effect on bird life has been remarkable. 

 Simultaneously with the outburst oiElodea, the widgeon 

 arrived. This beautiful duck, though common on the 

 adjacent sea-coast, was never seen, at least by me, on 

 this lake till the autumn of 1893, when five of them 

 spent the winter there, and added their wild whistle to 

 the familiar sounds of the place. The following year 

 there were about a score, and, at the moment of writing 

 (1896) they may be seen in hundreds. 



Their presence has given quite a new character to 

 the winter population. The chief arrivals in autumn 

 used to consist of pochards, clad in silvery grey and 

 black, with russet heads, and tufted ducks, in simple but 

 effective livery of sable and gleaming white. Fleets of 

 these conducted diving operations in silence ; but now 

 the air is full of the ' whewing' of widgeon, which move in 

 dense restless flocks, swiftly swimming, gobbling, and 

 talking with their mouths full. Usually shyest of all 

 waterfowl, here they have conformed to the habits of 



