Birds. 2645 



sion that seemed to inquire what right I had to intrude into solitudes 

 where the human form is so rarely seen. As we were thus gazing at 

 each other, in mutual surprise at having met in such a place, I ob- 

 served his long slender neck quietly and gradually doubling down 

 upon his breast ; his dark and lengthened plumes were at the same 

 time slightly shaken : I knew by this that he was about to rise : ano- 

 ther moment and he was up. Stretching his long legs behind him, 

 he uttered a scream so dismal, wild and loud, that the very glen and 

 hills re-echoed the sound, and the whole scene was instantly filled 

 with clamour : the sandpiper screamed its kittie-needie, — the pigeon 

 cooed, — the pipit {Anthus pratensis) , with lively motion, came flying 

 around me, uttering all the while its peeping * note, — from his heathy 

 lair the moor-cock sprang with whirring wing, and gave forth his well- 

 known and indignant birr bir-bick, — the curlew came sailing down 

 the glen with steady flight, and added to the noise with his shrill and 

 peculiar notes of poo-elie poo-elie coorlie coorlie wha-up, — and from 

 the loftier parts of the hills the plovers ceased not their mournful 

 wail, which accorded well with the scene of which I alone appeared 

 to be a silent spectator. A silent, indeed, I was, but not an uninte- 

 rested spectator, for I enjoyed the whole with the utmost satisfaction ; 

 and I moved not a foot until the alarmed inmates of the glen and the 

 mountain had disappeared, and solemn stillness had again resumed 

 its sway. After descending the stream for nearly two miles, I crossed 

 it, and made for the summit of Kirknie. I had proceeded between 

 twenty and thirty yards from the water, when I observed a ring pigeon 

 rise from the ground a short distance before me. Coming up to the 

 spot, I was surprised at seeing what appeared to be a nest, on which 

 were lying two beautiful white eggs : I could not believe my own 

 eyes : looking again, however, the eggs were still there, and as white 

 as snow : I felt them ; they were warm, and I had no longer any 

 doubt that I had found a ring pigeon's nest on the ground. The nest, 

 which was composed of a few small sticks, was placed on the bare 

 surface of the earth, and under the shade of a branch of a juniper 

 bush [Juniperus communis) . The cause of the singular departure, 

 on this occasion, from its usual habits of nidification on the part of 

 the ring pigeon, I shall leave wiser individuals than myself to deter- 

 mine, — merely remarking that it could not have been occasioned by a 

 want of wood, as there were trees at a distance of only about fifty or 

 sixty yards from the spot. 1 took with me the eggs thus unexpectedly 



* It is known here by the provincial name of the ' heather-peeper.' 

 VIII c 



