62 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IV. 



presently saw them swimming far out with the old 

 bird. The number of young redshanks, peewits, 

 &c., seemed very great. The terrier found them 

 everywhere. The redshank has a merry and not 

 unmusical note as he flies round and • round with 

 great rapidity on his nest being approached. I saw 

 no greenshanks about Loch Naver, but plenty of 

 them about the smaller and more lonely rushy 

 lakes on the hills. The note of the greenshank 

 is musical, and not quite so shrill as that of the 

 redshank. Its flight, too, is different^, making 

 longer strokes with the wing ; it darts with sudden 

 jerks through the air, somewhat in the manner 

 of a dragon-fly ; sometimes hovering, and then 

 darting downwards with great quickness. The nest 

 of the greenshank is particularly difficult to find. 

 I never found one myself, and have only once heard 

 of its having been discovered. There is a peculiarity 

 about the egg which, though difficult to describe, 

 immediately strikes the observer, if he is at all 

 learned in birds' eggs. The prevailing colour is 

 olive-green. The shell seems of a fine texture, and 

 the spots are small, but numerous. 



A forester brought me four eggs, which he said 

 were those of the jack snipe. Though I have every 

 reason for thinking that he would not wilfully have 

 deceived me, I suspect that he was mistaken in the 



