38 THE SOUTH ISLES. 



All the best heather, and consequently the best grouse ground, 

 lies on the lower slopes of the hills, especially on the east side ; 

 that which is exposed to the west being poor and stunted ; the 

 tops and sides of the hills are covered with flow ground and benty 

 grass, the latter of little use, except in the early summer for sheep 

 and cattle. There are three lochs of considerable size, all in that 

 part of the island called Walls, and the largest, called Heldale 

 Water, contains char, the only loch that does so in Orkney. 



Besides these lochs there are a number of much smaller ones, 

 called locally " Loom-a-shons," or "Loom-a-gens," on which the Red- 

 throated Divers breed, and these birds the proprietor does his best 

 to protect, though we fear they do not always escape the destroyer. 

 Colonies of gulls, both the Common, Herring, and Lesser Black- 

 back, breed on the flows on the tops of the hills or along the edges 

 of the lochs, mixed, in the former situation, with Richardson's 

 Skuas, but never in the latter. 



Most of the burns, except those which run to the west, contain 

 trout and sea-trout, but the latter only come up in a spate and 

 retire to the salt water as the flood fines down ; indeed, the most 

 of the angling consists in spinning some form of minnow in the 

 salt water. The largest of these burns is the Rackwick, which in 

 its lower reaches is sluggish and canal-like ; it runs into a loch 

 close to the sea, and to which the latter has access at high water. 



Immediately above Melsetter is a large patch of whins, in 

 which are great quantities of rabbits ; and a little below, on the 

 south shore, some links, and a white patch of sand which is very 

 conspicuous when crossing from Scrabster to Scapa with an incom- 

 ing tide. 



As before mentioned, South Walls is almost an island, being 

 connected with North Walls by a very narrow neck of land, over 

 which the road to the Post Office, etc., runs. On the south side of 

 this isthmus is Aith Hope, and on the north Longhope. 



At one time this neck of land was much broader, and links 

 existed, but these have been washed away by the encroachments 

 of the sea, so much so that now even the ordinary tides cover the 

 Ayre at high water for thirty to forty minutes, the stream tides 



