ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 45 



heathery and very barren hill, I followed its course till 

 it entered a pretty considerable cutting, and then found 

 myself upon a newly-constructed and one of the best 

 formed roads I ever saw. 



Countless numbers of the common plover or peewit 

 ( Vanellus cristatus) frequent and breed in this portion 

 of the island, and I could have slain hundreds had my 

 intentions been so unwarrantably murderous. After 

 proceeding at a tolerably brisk pace for about two miles 

 and a half, the beautiful and extensive loch suddenly 

 opened before me, and kept increasing in extent of 

 view at every succeeding step. Leaving the road at a 

 point where, by a gradual turn, it began to run parallel 

 to the side of the loch, I traversed some cultivated land 

 that lay between, and continued my progress along the 

 edge of the water. 



The sun now burst forth with a brilliancy that was 

 the more welcome after the morose and gusty weather 

 of the preceding days. Great quantities of plover here 

 rose in all directions, and followed me in the most ob- 

 stinate manner ; swooping suddenly in their well-known 

 flapping style of flight, in a manner that tended to 

 completely scare anything I might be anxious to work 

 up to by unusual caution ; and keeping up so annoyingly 

 their pertinacious cry, that I shot one out of sheer 

 aggravation, and packed him carefully in my box, with 

 its layers of cotton-wool, as an example to the rest of 

 its species. 



