CHAPTER III. 



ON MOUNTAIN AND LOCH. 



MOUNTAIN bird-life, if scarce, is not without 

 its charm. That of the loch, taking one 

 season with another, is more varied and abundant; 

 so that combining the two districts together and 

 they are in most cases inseparably associated we 

 shall have abundant material to interest us. The 

 mountain bird-life of England except, perhaps, in 

 the extreme north is comparatively limited, espe- 

 cially nowadays when persecution has worked such 

 havoc amongst certain species. That of the loch is 

 peculiarly of a Scottish type inasmuch as the present 

 chapter is concerned. The bird-life of these two 

 districts is essentially of a northern type, belonging, 

 like the mountains and lochs themselves, to a wilder 

 and more rugged scenery than any the southern 

 shires can boast. Many of the avine forms belong- 

 ing to these localities are strictly boreal or even 

 arctic in their distribution, finding a suitable habitat 

 by altitude rather than latitude; many of them are 

 but winter visitors or abnormal wanderers to the 

 south. In some cases these particular localities are 

 the home of representative species that take the 



