94 Among the Birds in Northern Shires. 



Osprey took place nearly twenty years ago in 

 Ross-shire, at the head of Loch Carron. We had 

 been kept rain-bound for a couple of days in the 

 hotel at Strome Ferry, and a most miserable and 

 depressing time we had of it, the surrounding hills 

 hidden by clouds and the surface of the loch churned 

 into foam by the incessant downpour. The second 

 evening the weather cleared, and we started off for 

 a long ramble along the loch-side; the sun shone 

 out brilliantly, and began to dispel the caps of clouds 

 hanging on the hills. The most abundant bird on 

 the loch was the Common Gull, respecting which we 

 shall have more to say on a future page. We saw 

 several pairs of Redshanks near the swollen streams, 

 many Plovers in the distance, a few Dippers, Com- 

 mon Sandpipers, and Mergansers. But the bird that 

 interested us most was an Osprey, flying slowly over 

 the loch about thirty feet above the water. It was 

 hovering with quivering wings, the head almost 

 hidden as the bird peered down in quest of prey. 

 Every few moments the bird flapped its long wings 

 as if to steady itself and gain fresh momentum for its 

 flight. For some time we watched it hovering above 

 the shallow water close inshore, and then it poised 

 for a moment and dropped like a stone into the loch, 

 the noise of its plunge being distinctly audible more 

 than a quarter of a mile away. It rose in a few 

 seconds, and then, after hovering a short time, went 



