32 Among the Birds in Northern Shires. 



birds may frequently be seen running along the tops 

 of walls and fences with outspread drooping wings, 

 or even soaring into the air uttering a shrill note, 

 both actions being connected with courtship and 

 love. The usual note of the Common Sandpiper 

 is a shrill weet uttered several times in succession, 

 and heard most frequently as the bird rises startled 

 from the bank and pursues its way across the 

 water, often so low as to strike the surface with its 

 wings. 



There are many other birds, of course, that may be 

 met with by upland streams, but the foregoing are 

 the characteristic species, each in every way adapted 

 to a life in, or by, the side of their turbulent waters. 

 These other species found by the mountain or 

 upland waters may be met with in even greater 

 plenty elsewhere, so that a mere passing mention 

 of them will suffice in the present chapter. The 

 Heron, of course, is a visitor to the side of the up- 

 land stream; often flushed from the quiet reaches 

 where the trout and grayling hide under the moss- 

 grown stones. He is, however, just as much at 

 home by the margin of lowland pools and streams, 

 or about the rocky coasts and estuaries, and no 

 exclusive dweller or sojourner in one locality more 

 than another. Then the Mallard, especially in the 

 Highlands, shows a strong preference for these 

 upland burns, especially during the breeding season; 



