on Ra 77 ibles among the Wild Birds. 35


here and there, where they have burst, veiling them with a

green smoke. O11 one of these islands we land for lunch after

the morning’s fishing is over.


Above us, in a low birch tree, is a nest and eggs of the

Hooded Crow ( Corvus cornix), whose crafty owner thinks, no

doubt, that here she may escape the vigilance of the keeper.

The plaintive silver chime of the Willow Warbler (_. Phylloscopus

trochilus) and the melancholy chirping of the Reed Bunting

{Emberiza schceniclus) remind us of more southern regions;

presently, as we walk over the ground studded with pale

primroses and golden marsh-marigolds, up springs a Duck from

a russet patch of last year’s bracken. No, she is not the Wigeon,

but a Common Wild Duck {Alias boscas ). That is our verdict as

we watch her with our field glasses while she hurries away, and

the eight greenish eggs she has left add weight to our decision.

But Wild Ducks’ nests we have often found in the South, and we

want to see the Wigeon’s nest, so the boat is taken across to the

next islet, and we proceed to search carefully all likely places.

Suddenly there is a flutter at the foot of a birch tree, and a small

dark-brown Duck bustles up and speeds away across the loch.


‘ That’s the Wigeon, anyhow,’ we exclaim in delight, and our

glasses soon shew us that we are not wrong. Rooking at the

eight eggs, we see they are quite different from those of the

Wild Duck we have just seen. There is no trace of green about

them, but they, are of a clear creamy-white, and make a beautiful

picture as they nestle snugly in a deep cup of dark smoky down,

with light centres and whitish tips.


But it would take too much space to write of all the

feathered inhabitants of these beautiful pieces of water. Among

the reeds and grassy tufts, or 011 the open pebbles near their

margins, the Redshanks, Curlews, Snipe, ( Gallinago ccelestis ) and

Lapwings ( Vaiiellus vulgaris') were busy with their nests or

young. There, on a stone, sits a Cormorant (JPhalacrocorax

carbo ) satisfied with his meal of trout. Near the shore swims a

Red-breasted Merganser and his mate ( Mergus serraior), and

overhead, to the accompaniment of cackling cries, flies a ‘ skein ’

of grey Rag-geese (. Anser cinereus), visitors from a distant loch



