Читать книгу Natural History in the Highlands and Islands - F. Darling Fraser - Страница 10

RELIEF AND SCENERY

LET US look at a physical map of Scotland and allow ourselves to make a tour of the Highlands as observers of country rather than as naturalists making detailed studies of habitats. We shall then be able to see those habitats with eyes wider open for the comparative sense we shall have gained. It will be convenient to divide the Highlands into five zones to which we cannot fairly give definite boundaries, though the zones themselves are significant in natural history. The divisions are my own and do not carry the weight of the acceptance of a committee of biologists. I should call them:

1 The southern and eastern Highland fringe which is in effect a frontier zone.

2 The Central Highlands, which may be likened to a continental or alpine zone.

3 The Northern Highlands, a zone with sub-Arctic or boreal affinities.

4 The West Highlands south of Skye, which may be called the Atlantic or Lusitanian Zone.

5 The Outer Hebrides and islands of Canna, Coll, Tiree, and such small islands as the St. Kilda group, the Treshnish group, the Flannans, North Rona and Sula Sgeir; an oceanic zone.