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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



AN ORCADIAN RAMBLE. 

 By Robert Godfrey. 



OTROMNESS was on holiday in honour of the 

 Queen's birthday, and was being invaded by 

 bicycles and " machines " laden with Kirkwall 

 excursionists. Its narrow street, thronged with 

 people from the country districts, all vieing with 

 one another in the production of mirth and 

 jollity, along with its harbour, densely crowded 

 with herring-boats, and its fishing stations, like so 

 many beehives in activity, all tended to make a 

 marked impression of the town's importance upon 

 a stranger arriving from the south. I, too, was on 

 holiday, but having just come from a crowded 

 city, I preferred to make acquaintanceship with 

 the less frequented regions lying amongst the hills 

 ■surrounding the town rather than mix with the 

 jostling crowd. So, turning east, along the sea 

 border, I soon passed beyond the town and 

 reached open cultivated country, where the fields 

 were divided from the highway by ditches and 

 slight mounds only. The larks in unceasing song 

 carolled overhead, and the constant screaming of 

 the gulls around the fishing stations resembled in 

 the distance a concert on the sea. The day was 

 somewhat close, but clear, and as I trudged along 

 over ground hitherto unvisited by me, I allowed 

 ■my fancy to people at its pleasure the regions still 

 ahead. 



From the knowehead the view beyond was shut 

 in by a barrier of hills running inland from Orphir, 

 and separated from the nearer ground by an arm 

 of the sea and the large loch of Stenness. Though 

 cultivation still held sway, the gradual increase 

 of pasture-land warned me of its coming pre- 

 ponderance. The Loch of Stenness has direct 

 communication with the sea, and, along with the 

 greater Loch Harray, from which it can hardly 

 be said to be definitely separated, occupies an 

 enormous area. It is a great haunt for wild fowl, 

 and these lochs were the last known breeding- 

 haunts of the wild swan in our islands. 



The high road crosses the outlet of the loch by 

 a low three-arched bridge, and brings us to the 

 base of the Orphir Hills. The ground was covered 

 with short grass and heather, beautified by the 

 lousewort, but was in many parts completely bare, 

 the turf having probably been stripped off for use. 

 For a mile or two a rough road prevailed over 

 moorland, with cultivated patches and crofts dotted 

 here and there, and a steady walk of an hour and 

 a half from the town brought me to the true hills 

 with their wilder heather and their freedom from 

 houses. 



My only attendant was the never-failing peeweep, 

 and I had not yet seen any of the rarities I was on 



the constant look-out for. Larks unceasingly sang, 

 and occasionally a meadow pipit would flutter up 

 from the ground, singing as it went. The heather 

 was strong and eminently suited for wild life ; one 

 feature, however, informed me of its being more or 

 less frequently traversed, namely, the peatbanks, 

 that in many places broke its conformity. Traces 

 of the red grouse were abundantly evident, yet I 

 wandered up and down for half-an-hour before I 

 disturbed a cock from some long heather. Golden 

 plover had also by this time appeared, and were 

 bleating on the hillslopes. The further I went 

 the greater became the number of the peat-banks, 

 and the occupation of the heather was as little 

 likely as ever. A second cock grouse got up after 

 a long interval, and again the normal silence 

 prevailed. 



On passing from heather to an extensive rush 

 bed, I became hopeful of meeting with the short- 

 eared owl, and carefully crossed and re-crossed 

 the attractive area. Under the close state of the 

 atmosphere, the persistent tramp became very 

 tiresome, and was rendered more so by the absence 

 of encouraging life. Starlings frequently passed 

 with food in their bills, and peeweeps were the 

 only other species continually present. At length 

 I heard a merlin call, without, however, having 

 any indication of the haunt, as so many peat- 

 diggers were all about the hill ; so descending 

 towards the valley where the peat-banks were of 

 rare occurrence, I found myself in a region of fine 

 wild heather and rush-clad ground. About two p.m. 

 I came on castings containing the remains of field- 

 voles, and also on characteristic bird-of-prey dung, 

 and a little further on I had confirmation of the 

 same. I perseveringly plodded on under this 

 encouragement, being much pleased with the 

 general aspect of the ground, where long-withered 

 Lnzula was interspersed with the rushes and the 

 long heather, and in about a quarter of an hour I 

 flushed a short-eared owl from a high heather patch. 

 The bird issued with the conspicuous appearance 

 of its race, and with measured, silent beat, flew 

 along the top of the wild pasture to ensconce 

 itself in the heather again. I carefully examined 

 the spot from which the bird had risen, but 

 found no indication of a nest. I lingered on in 

 this advantageous ground, and zealously beat the 

 rushes and long heather as I zigzagged about the 

 hillside. Once I observed a fine plump field-vole 

 run off across a small open space to the shelter of 

 long heather and temporarily escape. Barely an 

 hour had elapsed before I again roused the owl 

 from a bed of rushes on soft mossy ground, and I 



