124 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



fact that the female Red-necked Phalarope is 

 bigger than the male, and her colours are the 

 brightest ; the cock-bird, therefore, hatches the 

 eggs, and takes the greater part of the duties of 

 rearing the young. During the breeding season 

 this species utters a low note sounding like weet. 

 As soon as the young are strong upon the wing 

 the southern movement commences, and by the 

 end of August they have quitted their upland 

 haunts until the following spring, wintering in 

 warmer lands across the sea. 



Still keeping to the lochs and streams of the 



Highlands we may by rare good fortune sometimes 



scotch meet with the OSPREY (Pandionhaliaetus). Slowly, 



mainland, , 11*1 i i i i 



ROSS, but surely, this handsome bird is becoming extinct 



Inverness. i i i i i 



as a breeding species ; indeed, but one or two 

 pairs are now known in haunts where " once upon 

 a time " they were by no means uncommon. It 

 is a summer visitor to these Highland solitudes, 

 and during the seasons of its migration is not un- 

 frequently observed in England. It feeds on fish, 

 catching them by plunging Gannet-like into the 

 water as it hovers above the clear pools. It is a 

 bird of remarkable power of wing, flying to and 

 fro above the lochs on pinions that never seem to 

 tire. The Osprey returns yearly to its breeding- 

 place, which is either a tall pine-tree or an island 

 ruin, where it makes a bulky nest of sticks and 

 turf, lined with fine grass. The eggs, two or 

 three in number, are yellowish white, beautifully 

 blotched, spotted, and clouded with deep reddish or 

 purplish brown and orange-red. A bird so rare 

 as the Osprey can only claim a passing notice. 



Two species of Divers may be met with 

 breeding on the banks and islands of the secluded 



