PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 
505 
fortune to see one of these magnificent birds soaring above 
a precipice about a thousand feet high where, as likely as 
not, his nest was situated. When within about three miles 
of Scourie, one passes a loch which I will now mention on 
account of an interesting incident I witnessed upon it later. 
The loch in question is roughly about 400 yards across in 
each direction, and in the centre is a small island on which 
stand a few dwarf Birch trees about 15 feet high. As we 
passed, I noticed several Herons sitting on these trees, and 
I saw also that they had nests, so I mentally resolved that 
1 would re-visit this loch, and especially keen was I to do so 
when I heard later that it was well stocked with Trout. 
On June 12th, I paid my second visit and investigated the 
Heron Island. There were some ten or twelve nests, most 
of which one could see into from the ground. One nest only 
had eggs, and as the others all contained young birds in various 
stages of development, I concluded that the first clutch of 
this nest had been taken. On my looking over the edge of one 
nest, so scared were the young birds at my sudden appearance 
that they all fluttered and fell out — excepting one. This 
fellow took to flight, and with the aid of a fair breeze managed 
to get within about fifty yards of the shore, when he grace- 
fully settled upon the water and swam the remaining distance, 
still assisted somewhat by the breeze. When he reached 
the bank he stood up. and having taken his bearings in a most 
dignified manner, walked up to the heather and there hid 
himself behind a rock. Now, this bird had certainly never 
been out of his nest before, and vet when the unexpected 
necessity arose, he was able without any previous practice 
or schooling, not only to make use of his wings for purpose 
of locomotion through the air, but also to adapt his legs 
under the water to a process which even his parents had 
probably never attempted. I did not stay long on the loch 
after this incident, yet I have not a doubt that soon after 
I was gone, one of the fourteen old birds, who had been 
