WINTER. 



the top of Eoshven, which seemed to have a nest somewhere, but 

 I did not find it. 



In March, when on the shores of Loch Fyne, at Inveraray, I 

 had the opportunity of looking at many birds through a good 

 telescope, at the residence of Sheriff Shairp. It was high tide, 

 and a number of water-fowl had come ashore on a small grassy 

 island just opposite the house, apparently for a siesta. Mallards, 

 Oyster Catchers, and others that I could not quite make out, had 

 gathered together in close amicable proximity. Wigeons were 

 there, easily distinguished by their graceful walk, not waddling, 

 like ordinary ducks. One of the sleepers looked, as far as I 

 could see, like a Goosander, but I could not be sure, as its head 

 was, as the saying is, " under its wing." (Birds do not really put 

 their heads under their wings when they go to sleep, but lay 

 them back over their shoulders, nestling the beak among their 

 back feathers, which keep the breath warm, like a respirator 

 tempering the chill night air.) I had never seen Wigeons alive 

 before, but only in poulterers' shops. Several rare birds have 

 appeared occasionally in the woods of Inveraray, the Great 

 Spotted Woodpecker more than once, also the Shrike. 



THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER (Colymbus glacialis). Both the 

 Great Northern Diver and another large Diver with a white 

 throat, but otherwise resembling it, come here to the sea in autumn 

 and winter. They make a plaintive cry, something like the 

 whinnying of a young foal. The Diver breeds in fresh- 

 water lochs, among wild hills, in the JTorth of Scotland. A 



4 



