58 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IV, 



along this gi'assy tract of country. The plovers are 

 very tame, running along the road in front of the 

 horse, and at last only flying a few yards to some 

 higher hillock or stone, vi'here they stop watching 

 us till we pass. These birds have their nests rather 

 high up on the hills : their eggs are peculiarly large 

 and beautifully marked, the prevailing colour being 

 a brown, shaded and spotted with darker markings 

 of a brownish-green colour. It is very difficult, 

 however, to describe the eggs of many of these 

 birds, no two of them being exactly alike. The 

 curlews are far more shy and wary, and as long as 

 we are within sight they keep up a loud unceasing 

 cry of alarm, wheeling round and round, but gene- 

 rally at a tolerably respectful distance. I saw 

 some young curlews on the ground, and got out to 

 examine them ; they are curious, long-legged, top- 

 heavy, little fellows, and when pursued seemed to 

 trip themselves up in their hurry, and to tumble 

 head foremost into every hole in their way. The 

 bill of the young bird is as short as that of a golden 

 plover. When I held it in my hand to examine the 

 curious plumage, or rather down which covered it, 

 the little bird looked up at me with its great dark 

 prominent eye with such an expression of confidence 

 and curiosity, that had I been the most determined 

 collector of specimens of birds, I could not have re- 



