154 MEMORIAL TRIBUTE 



operation of feeding in a quiet and business-like manner, 

 each attending to his own affairs without interfering 

 with his neighbours. It was indeed a pleasant sight to 

 see how the little creatures fluttered among the twigs, 

 all in continued action, like so many bees on a cluster 

 of flowers in sunshine after rain. Their brilliant colours, 

 so much more gaudy than those of our common birds, 

 seemed to convert the rude scenery around into that of 

 some far distant land, where the redbird sports among 

 the magnolia flowers. British Birds, vol. i. p. 425. 



9. THE RAVEN IN THE HEBRIDES. 



The character of the raven accords well with the 

 desolate aspect of the rugged glens of the Hebridian 

 moors. He and the eagle are the fit inhabitants of 

 those grim rocks ; the red grouse, the plover, and its 

 page, of those brown and scarred heaths ; the ptarmigan 

 of those craggy and tempest-beaten summits. The red- 

 throated diver and the merganser, beautiful as they are, 

 fail to give beauty to those pools of dark-brown water, 

 edged with peat banks, and unadorned with sylvan 

 verdure. Even the water-lily, with its splendid white 

 flowers, floating on the deep bog, reflects no glory on 

 the surrounding scenery, but selfishly draws all your 

 regards to itself. There, on the rifted crag, let the 

 dark raven croak to his mate, while we search for the 

 species in distant parts of the land. British Birds, vol. 

 i. p. 509. 



