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SHOET TOUR IN SUTHERLAND

■

Loch Assynt.

Vol. i. Frontispiece. 1

\«-

A TOUE IN
SUTHEKLANDSHIEE

WITH

EXTEACTS FEOM THE FIELD-BOOKS

OF

A SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST

By CHAELES ST. JOHN, Esq.

AUTHOR OF ' WILD SPORTS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HIGHLANDS '

SECOND EDITION

WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE FAUNA OF SUTHERLAND BY

J. A. HARVIE-BROWN, F.Z.S., ETC., AND

T. E. BUCKLEY, B.A., F.Z.S., ETC.

IN TWO VOLS.-VOL. I.

EDINBUKGH: DAVID DOUGLAS
1884

o

Printed bv R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh.

TO
HIS GRACE

THE DUKE OF SUTHEKLAND

ARE

(WITH PERMISSION)

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR

HIS GRACE'S MOST OBEDIENT SERVANT

CHARLES ST. JOHN.

January 1849.

PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.

It is with real diffidence that I offer these
volumes to the public. I am induced to do
so by the wishes of many of my friends and
companions in the woods and fields, who,
having received with indulgence my former
volume on Highland Sports, have persuaded
me to launch another barque laden with a
similar cargo of odds and ends. That it
should have as favourable a voyage as its
predecessor is more than I can venture to
hope. If, however, these pages serve to
entertain for a few hours any of my fellow-
lovers of nature, or if any whose occupations
in life are of a graver and more laborious
kind, find relaxation and amusement in their
perusal, my object is fully gained.

viii PREFACE.

I do not fear the criticism of the learned ;
my flight is far too humble to obtain even
their censure : nor do I aim at instructing
any of my readers, but solely at amusing
them. The scientific naturalist must excuse
my errors of description and my want of
skill : but thus far, and thus far only, I can
venture to say a good word in favour of
my rough notes — that they are the result
of actual and personal observation, and not
of hearsay or second-hand information ; and
that, therefore, some reliance may be placed
in them.

The present volumes consist of extracts
from a Journal, written during a wandering
excursion through Sutherlandshire, one of
the most interesting counties in Scotland,
and one of the least known ; of a series of
field -notes for each month in the year,
written during my residence in the pleasant
land of Moray ; and of a few miscellaneous

IX

PREFACE.

chapters on matters of interest to the sports-
man. Such as they are, I offer them to the
public, trusting that they will receive them
as the off- hand thoughts and observations
of one who is more accustomed to the hill-
side than to the study — to the gun than to
the pen.

\Janvary 1849.]

PREFATORY NOTE.

The second edition of Mr. Charles St. John's
Tour in Sutherland is almost an exact reprint
of the original, as published in 1849. Instead
of altering the text or adding fresh notes so as
to bring the book up to the requirements of
the day, the editor considered that it would be
better to leave the work as the author wrote it,
and to supplement the volumes by an entirely
new chapter on the Fauna of the district. In
carrying out this plan he was so fortunate as to
secure the hearty co-operation of Mr. Buckley
and Mr. Harvie- Brown, who have been careful
students of the natural history of Sutherlandshire
for the last seventeen years ; the results of their
experience, written from accumulated notes kept
during these years, are given in the Appendix. In
addition to the authorities consulted, a list of which
will be found on pp. 292-3 of vol. ii., " They have
vol. i. b

xii PKEFATORY NOTE.

received most able and willing assistance from
numerous friends and correspondents either resi-
dent in, or closely connected with, the county of
Sutherland ; and they beg to express their thanks
to Mr. Houstoun of Kintradwell, Dr. Joass of
Golspie, Sheriff Mackenzie, and Mr. Hill of Helms-
dale, for many valuable communications respecting
the Fauna of the east and south-east districts ; to
Mr. Crawford of Tongue for lists and notes from
the north ; and to Mr. L. M'lver and Mr. Mur-
doch Kerr for Fish lists from Scourie and Loch
Inver. From the Messrs. Peach, and from Mr.
Mackay, Portnacon, they have received most ample
lists and notes on Fish of the north coast of the
county of Caithness and of the Moray Firth.
Mr. Mackay's notes were received too late, and
were too long to print in extenso, but they hope
to make a fuller use of these at a future date.
From the west they have received very valuable
assistance and practical aid from Mr. John
Sutherland, and Mr. John Munro of Inch-
nadamph, both being men well acquainted with
the birds of the district. Dr. Day — than whom
they could not have any better authority — has
most kindly looked over and revised their list

PREFATORY NOTE. Xlll

of Fishes. Nor can they omit mention of the
keepers, shepherds, and ghillies, everywhere
throughout the county, too numerous to mention
by. name, who have so often given them a
helping hand, without which many a pleasant
and successful nesting expedition would have
proved a failure."

The only other additions to the volumes are
Capt. H. C. St. John's brief recollections of his
boyhood ; and the vignette illustrations from the
author's sketch-books, which have been carefully
drawn and engraved by Mr. John Adam,
Edinburgh.

June 1884.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE AUTHOR.

Br Captain H. C. ST. JOHN.

I have been asked to jot down some few reminis-
cences of my father. I was only eighteen when
he died, and as I had been to sea for four years,
my recollections of him are almost those of a
child.

I remember him — a slight, active man, of
middle height, wiry and strong, with a handsome,
animated face, blue eyes, and a singularly sweet
smile. He became bald early, which showed to
advantage the intellectually- formed head. In
disposition he was calm and collected, and I
never remember him violently excited about
anything. When young, I have always heard
he was gay, mixing a great deal in society ; but
my own recollections of him are as a thoroughly
domestic man, devoted to his children, natural
history, and sport. Perhaps he was rather too
indulgent a father, for we boys had little difficulty

XVi RECOLLECTIONS OF THE AUTHOR.

in getting extra holidays, and this rather too
frequently for our progress up the ladder of
learning. In one way these holidays were not
wasted ; they were almost always spent with him
on some long wild ramble, or shooting excursion,
which he made valuable and instructive by his
conversation, teaching us to observe carefully all
we saw in nature. In the winter evenings he
taught us drawing and chess, so graphically
described by Mr. Innes in his memoir of my father.
A first-rate sportsman, an excellent shot, and fond
of making a good bag for home use or for friends,
yet he had no delight in killing, and thoroughly
disliked battue-shooting. His chief pleasure was
in watching and noting the habits of all creatures
ferce natural — as his books show.

I shall never forget those happy young days,
when trotting in my kilt by his side, or left in
the path or track by which the roe-deer would
leave the wood, while he went round with the
dogs to drive them to where he had placed me.
In this way I killed my first deer — a feat my
father was as proud of as I was.

The love of natural history fostered in us has
always been of good service to my brothers and

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE AUTHOR. xvii

myself ; never have I visited any part of the world,
however wanting in general amusements, without
being able to find continual interest and pleasure.
Of all our many Scotch homes, Invererne was,
I think, my father's favourite ; it was charmingly
situated, close to the river Finclhorn and the large
bay of that name. The wild sandhills, and the
equally wild stretch of coast, made an excellent
locality for the naturalist and sportsman. About
a mile and a half from the mouth of the river it
divides (or did so in those days), forming an
island in the fork, the habitat of rabbits and all
kinds of wild-fowl. Here an almost fatal accident
occurred. One day, after refusing to let my
brother and myself fish in the river, he took us
to the island ferreting. In the course of the
afternoon, without the least warning, we saw the
river " coming down," like a great brown wall, ten
feet high, sweeping everything before it. We had
barely time to reach the highest point, for in a
few seconds the island, barring a dozen square
yards on which we stood, was a seething mass of
water several feet deep. If we boys had been
fishing nothing could have saved us. My father
often spoke of this providential escape, as he did

XV111 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE AUTHOR.

not anticipate the rise of the river, and had no
reason for refusing our request. At all our
homes we had a varied menagerie of the tamest
and most intelligent of pets. He had great power
and influence over animals ; and his dogs, from
being his constant companions, were remarkable
for their sagacity. The " College," our Elgin
home, rejoiced in a great walled garden of about
four acres. In one part was a grass plot, where my
father kept trained Peregrine falcons, which he
used to fly after the fashion of bygone days, and
much amusement it afforded him and us boys.

The art of training and flying hawks was taught
us by our dear old friend Mr. John Hancock, the
celebrated naturalist.

My father was fond of flowers, and the lighter
kinds of gardening, budding, pruning, etc.

He must have been a very even-tempered man.
I cannot remember a single instance of his being-
angry or irritable. When out shooting with him
once, he caught sight of a poacher, who, on being
run down, threatened to shoot my father. Giving
me his gun to hold, he very quickly took the
gun from the poacher, whom he simply made pro-
mise not to trespass again, and allowed him to «0

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE AUTHOR. xix

home. This was all done in the coolest manner,
without anger, and with very few words.

When at Invererne he was often warned by
Dr. Allan (then at Forres, since well known in
London) that he was ruining his constitution by
over-exposure to cold and wet, particularly in
duck -shooting during the winter; but no one
anticipated that fatal results were so soon to be
developed.

At the time of his seizure my father was
alone at the "College" (the rest of the family being
at the sea-side). He then occupied an unused
room — the proverbial haunted room which belongs
to most Scotch houses. Something very strange
seems to have happened to him in this room, but
what I know not, as he never would speak of it.
The next day he went out shooting in company
with Major Campbell, and was suddenly seized
with loss of power in the left side — paralysis.
Strange to say, the only other time my father
was in company with that gentleman he met
with a very nasty accident : A dying roe-deer
kicked the hunting -knife into his foot, inflicting
a deep wound, severing the tendon of the big
toe, which was stiff ever after.

XX RECOLLECTIONS OF THE AUTHOR.

My poor father never regained power after
his first attack, and became a confirmed invalid.
He bore this terrible affliction for two long years
with wonderful resignation and patience. The
enforced idleness was particularly trying to one
so active in mind and body ; and yet, I believe,
he never lost his cheerfulness.

I left England for China in January 1855;
and in October 1856 my father died, at the early
age of forty-six.

March 10, 1884.

CONTENTS.

A SHORT TOUR IN SUTHERLAND.

CHAPTER I.

Sutherlandshire ; its Wild -birds not sufficiently known — Our
Start and Conveyance — Kyle of Sutherland — Woods of
Rosehall ; old Keeper there ; his recollection of me — Oykel
Inn — Altnagalcanach ; Origin of Name ; Fishing at — Con-
veying Boat to Loch Urigil — Wild-geese and Divers on the
Loch — Large Trout of these Lakes — Drive to Inehnadamph
— Value of rare Eggs — Heronry — Peregrine Falcon and
Buzzards' Nests — Climbing over the Rocks . Page 1

CHAPTER II.

Inn at Inehnadamph — Liberal System of the Duke of Suther-
land— Facility of Travelling — Beauty of Country — Loch
Assynt — Nest of Osprey — Large Spring of Water — Water-
ousel — Dense Mist — Wild Country near Kylesku — Coun-
try between Kylesku and Scowrie — Nest of Osprey ; curious
position of — Eagle 18

CHAPTER III.

I mi at Scowrie — Another Osprey's Nest — The old Ospreys —
Eggs of— The River Laxford — Inn of Rhiconnich — Drive to
Durness — Beauty of Scenery — Drive round Loch Emboli —

XXU CONTENTS.

Glenmore — Loch Maddie — Crows — Gray Geese; time of
breeding — Old Nest of Osprey — Stag in the Loch — Fox-
hound — Black - throated Divers — Aultnaharrow — Loch
Laighal — Squall of Wind .... Page 29 '

CHAPTER IV.

Return to Sutherland — Travelling from Edinburgh — Skye
Terrier; peculiarities of — Lairg — Loch Shin — River Shin
— Reserve of the English — Mr. Young's Experiments re-
specting Salmon ; Anecdotes of Salmon — Manner of Spawn-
ing ; Food of Salmon — Drive to Aultnaharrow — Curlews,
etc. — Loch Naver — Phalaropes — Widgeon — Green -
shank, etc. ........ 45

CHAPTER V.

Length of Day — Sedge Warbler— Different Birds near Loch
Naver — Ben Cleebrick — Rain — Loch Maddie — Frost —
Ben Laighal — Foxes — Sheep Killing — Catching Wild-ducks
— Peregrine Falcon ; manner of catching their Young —
Golden Eagles — Tongue — Fine Scenery of Bay of Tongue
and Islands — Wild-cat — Seals 64

CHAPTER VI.

Ferry from Tongue— Difficulties of our Start — Seals — Shep-
herds, etc. — Emigration — Heilam Inn — Storm — River
Hope — Drive to Durness — Cave — Rock-pigeons — Inn at
Rhiconnich — Search for Osprey's Nest — Swimming to Nest
— Loch of the Eagle-fisher — Stalking the Osprey — Row up
the Bay — Loss of Fishing-line — Scowrie — Island of Handa
— Innumerable Birds, etc. . . . . . 77

CONTENTS. xxiii

CHAPTER VII.

Another Osprey's Nest ; Variety of Eggs — Golden Eagle ;
Manner of Hunting ; decrease of — Egg Collectors — Mr.
Hancock's Collection — Nests of Eagles ; Animals killed by —
The Mountain Hare — Fishing of Osprey . Page 105

CHAPTER VIII.

County of Sutherland ; Variety of Climate and Soil — List of
Birds ; of Hawks ; Owls ; of the smaller Land Birds ; of the
Crow Tribe ; Pigeons, etc 117

CHAPTER IX.

List continued — Game Birds ; Destruction of by Shepherds —
Plovers — Sandpipers and Snipes, etc. — Water- fowl ; Swans,
Geese, varieties of Ducks, Grebes, Terns, Gulls, etc. — De-
crease of many kinds of birds — Egg-dealers . . 133

CHAPTER X.

Deer-hounds — Deer-forest in Sutherlandshire — Effect of the
Forests on Deer — The Stag casting his Horns — Hinds and
Calves — Courage of the Hind — Poaching Shepherds — Value
of Horns — Fighting of Stags — Highland Forester — Breed of
Deer-hounds 144

CHAPTER XL

Agriculture in Sutherlandshire — Facilities of reaching the
County — Caledonian Canal — Travelling in Sutherland —
Inns, excellent management of — Lairg — Tongue — Durness
— Scowrie — Inchnadamph — Inveran — Conclusion of
Sutherlandshire . . . . . . • 159

XXIV CONTENTS.

FIELD-NOTES FOE THE YEAE
CHAPTER XII.

JANUARY.

Wood - pigeons — Feeding of Widgeon and Mallards — Wild -
fowl— Water-rail— Wild-duck Shooting — Change of colour
in Trout . page 169

CHAPTER XIII.

FEBRUARY.

Change of colour in Stoats— Affection of Otters for their young
— Roe-hunting— Attachment of Birds to their Mates— Food
of Fieldfares during Snow — Widgeon — Wild-fowl shooting
at Spynie— Incidents in Shooting— Winged Swan— Cats-
Food of Wild-geese — Brent Goose . . . 178

CHAPTER XIV.

MARCH.

Wild-swans — Loch of Spynie; Wild-fowl on it— Pochard-
Carrion Crows — Death of Wild -swan — Domestication of
Wil d- fowl ; flavour of— Arrival of Geese . . . 193

CHAPTER XV.

APRIL.

Field-mice — Brent Geese— Arrival of Migratory Birds— In-
stinct of Crows in Feeding— Instinct , of Thrushes— Disap-
pointments in Shooting Wild-geese— Death of White-fronted
Geese— Shetland Pony— Heronry— Anecdote of Roehuck—
Wild-duck's Nest 205

CONTENTS. XXV

CHAPTER XVI.

MAY.

Nests of Birds — Cross -bills, etc. — Lateness of Season — Bean-
geese — Partridge's Nest — Northern Diver — Coot's Nest —
Teal and her Young — Wren's Nest — Badgers ; cunning of ;
anecdote of — Aurora Borealis ; sound made by . Page 221

CHAPTER XVII.

JUNE.

Trout -fishing — Sea -trout in the Findhorn — Breeding -place
of Black -headed Gulls — Salmon - fishing — Gray Crows —
Hair "Worms — Fishing — Cromarty — Goats — The Peregrine
Falcon 232

CHAPTER XVIII.

JULY.

Shore Birds; arrival of — Foxes — Herring, and Herring-fish-
ing; Birds, etc., feeding on them — Herring - fishing in Suther-
land — A Sharper — Numbers of Flounders — Young Wild-
fowl— Roe ; habits of — Midges — Angling — Floods in the
Findhorn — Prophecy of a Woman — Escape of a Shep-
herd 247

CHAPTER XIX.

AUGUST.

Golden Plover— Ring -dottrel — Migratory ^Birds — Butterflies
— Crabs ; their manner of casting their shells — The
Sea Angler — The Deal Fish — Habits of Woodcocks —
A pet Roe — Grouse - shootings and Grouse — Wild -
fowl 266

XXVI

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEK XX.

SEPTEMBER.

The 1st of September — Partridge-shooting — Migratory Birds —
Grouse - shooting in September — "Widgeon — Jack - snipes ;
Breeding-places of — Landrail — White variety of the Eagle —
Sea-trout fisher — Stag's Horns — Deer-stalking — Cunning of
Deer — Disappointed in getting a Shot . . Page 283

LIST OF PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.

Loch Assynt ....

Frontispiece.

Loch Urigil ....

To face page 9

Osprey's Nest ....

29

View of Whiten Head

• • „ 77

Loch near Rhiconnich

105

Wild Swans ....

193

SHORT TOUR IN SUTHERLAND.

CHAPTER I.

Sutherlandshire ; its "Wild- birds not sufficiently known — Our
Start and Conveyance — Kyle of Sutherland — Woods of
Rosehall ; old Keeper there ; his recollection of me — Oykel
Inn — Altnagalcanach ; Origin of Name ; Fishing at — Con-
veying Boat to Loch Urigil— Wild Geese and Divers on the
Loch — Large Trout of these Lakes — Drive to Inchnadamph
— Value of rare Eggs — Heronry — Peregrine Falcon and
Buzzards' Nests — Climbing over the Rocks.

Amongst the thousands of scenery-hunters and
tourists there are very few who have ever made
an excursion through the county of Sutherland,
although it is a district as interesting as any in
Europe, both for its magnificent and varied scenery,
including sea, mountain, valley, and lake, and also
as containing many rare subjects interesting to
the naturalist and botanist. There are many
birds and plants to be found in the wilder parts
of this county which are scarcely to be seen else-
where in Britain. The naturalist may here observe
vol. i. B

2 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. I.

closely the eagle, the osprey, the wild-goose, and
many other birds, whose habits are little known,
but who in this region breed and rear their young
in comparative security.

The wild -cat, marten cat, fox, etc., though
seldom seen by daylight, are still tolerably nume-
rous where the ground is not kept for grouse-
shooting. In the latter case, however, traps and
poison have pretty well destroyed these and all
other carnivorous animals.

In the spring of 1848 I made an excursion
through some part of the county of Sutherland,
which I shall endeavour to describe, in the hope
of inducing others to follow my example, being
confident that whoever does so will find himself
amply repaid for his trouble.

My object in making the journey was to enjoy
the magnificent scenery of the north coast, to see
and observe the breeding habits and localities of
many of the rarer birds of Britain, and to ascer-
tain the fact of some of these birds rearing their
young in Scotland, which, from the contradictory
and uncertain statements of many naturalists,
seemed to be a matter of great doubt. Not being
a collector of eggs or birds myself, I had no wish to
destroy more of my feathered friends than sufficed
to prove their identity, and to procure a few

CH. I. OUR START AND CONVEYANCE. 3

specimens for a gentleman who is as great a lover
of nature as myself, and a far more scientific one.

Onr start from Bonar Bridge was a most amus-
ing affair, not only to ourselves, but also to all the
inhabitants of that small but beautifully situated
village. The vehicle which we travelled in was a
small and lightly built fiat-bottomed boat, made of
larch, and mounted on wheels. It was constructed
to ship and unship in half a minute. By simply
unscrewing two bolts, it could be taken off its
wheels and launched into the water. Being on
springs, it made a very easy carriage, and was
large enough to hold four persons, with plenty of
space for luggage. On the present occasion our
party consisted of a friend of mine, Mr. J., who
(although for many years a wanderer over Swit-
zerland and many parts of Europe) had never been
through the wilder and more mountainous regions
of Scotland ; Mr. Dunbar, whose assistance was
of much use'as a naturalist and interpreter amongst
the shepherds and others who spoke more Gaelic
than English ; myself, and Leo, my retriever.

Having adjusted the harness, traces, etc., of the
boat to my horse (a stout Highland " garron "), we
started at an early hour, trusting to the chapter of
accidents and the pace of our horse as to where we
should sleep that night, but determined to make

4 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. I.

out as many miles as we could, or in other words
to advance as far as possible into the mountainous
Xjart of Sutherlandshire. Bonar Bridge is situ-
ated on what is called the Kyle of Sutherland, a
narrow estuary formed by the confluence of the
Shin, Oykel, Casselis, and Anak rivers, all of which
streams, a short distance above Bonar Bridge, meet
the salt water of the Dornoch Firth. In winter this
water abounds with wild-fowl, but now (May 14)
all these birds had gone to their breeding-places
with the exception of a solitary godwit or two, who
seemed to have been left behind the rest of their
comrades, this bird not breeding in Scotland. The
woods about Piosehall, or rather that portion of them
which the axe has spared, used to abound in many
kinds of interesting hawks, and also in marten and
wild-cats, but keepers and trapping combined seem
to have entirely swept all these animals away. 1
looked in vain for buzzards on a high rock which
some few years back was invariably tenanted by
them, but it seemed that they had long since been
destroyed. As I passed through the remains of
the woods too I caught a glimpse here and there
of passes where different stags had fallen to my rifle,
and many a happy day spent in the greenwood
was recalled to my recollection, with all its accom-
panying incidents. I called on the old Highland

CH. I. OLD KEEPER AT ROSEHALL. 5

keeper who was then my attendant, and found him
exactly on the same spot where I had seen him
twelve years ago, winking at the morning sun in
a manner peculiar to owls and inhabitants of
cottages full of peat smoke. I doubted his recog-
nising me after so many years, but was much
gratified at the pleasure and readiness with which
he did so, and at the vivid recollection which he
had of the corrie in which " my honour " had shot
my first stag under his guidance and tuition —
his tender inquiry too after my rifle, " the likes
of which never put down a deer in the country."
I returned the compliment by begging to be shown
my old acquaintance, " the double-barrel," a most
venerable flint gun, with singularly eccentric and
unreachable triggers, which no forefinger but his
own could ever pull. This ancient gun, however,
in his hands had laid low many an antlered head.
Though he affected to despise all new inventions,
I had a recollection of his always preferring a shot
with one of my percussion guns to the uncertain
chance of his own flint and steel. Many an old
story connected with stag and corrie, shealing and
whisky bottle, the old fellow called to my recol-
lection ; and I really saw with regret the last of
his weather-beaten face, as he bowed and gesticu-
lated to me as long as we continued in sight. 1

6 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. I.

am afraid that my companions must have thought
me a bore for a few miles, as I pointed out, with
an interest which they could scarcely feel, rock
and glen, the scenes of former chaces of deer, or
even of the death of otter or wild-cat.

At Oykel Inn, some twenty miles from our start-
ing-place, we stopped for an hour or two to rest
our horse, and to try a cast in the river ; but
bright and clear as it was, with very little water
in the stream, we had no success. At certain times
of the fishing season there is no better river than
the Oykel. May, however, is rather too early.

Eleven miles farther on we came to a small inn,
at a place called Altnagalcanach, — a most difficult
and unpronounceable Gaelic name, and one which
I cannot be sure of spelling right. The meaning
of it is the " Burn of the Deceiver." The origin
of the name, as it was told me, is amusing and
characteristic enough. The place is situated in a
part of Boss-shire which intrudes into the adjoin-
ing county of Sutherland in a very unceremonious
manner, the cause of which was as follows : — In
a dispute between the respective proprietors of
that part of Boss-shire and Sutherlandshire, the
marches were to be determined by reference to an
old inhabitant, who, being either by clanship or
bribery in the interest of the Boss-shire laird, came

CH. I. FISHING AT ALTN AGALCANA CH. 7

to this spot to decide the question with the soles
of his shoes filled with earth from the interior of
Boss-shire, the wily old fellow by this means saving
himself all scruples of conscience when he swore
most positively that he stood on Eoss-shire ground.
Standing on Eoss-shire ground in this manner, he
pointed out a boundary most convenient to his
employer, the Eoss-shire laird. So ran the tale
as it was told me ; and unde derivatur the name
of Altnagalcanach, which it still holds.

Close to the door of the inn is a fine loch, in
which are great numbers of small trout and char,
and also plenty of the large lake-trout, or Salmo
ferox. We fished for an hour or two, and caught
a good dish of trout and one char ; a very unusual
occurrence, as the char rarely rises to the fly, ex-
cepting in one or two favoured localities. Indeed
I have caught hundreds of trout with the fly in
lochs swarming with char without ever catching
one of the latter. Though not much accustomed
to travellers, the good wife of the inn put us up
comfortably enough. We had clean beds, and
good tea, eggs, and cream, which, with the excel-
lent trout that we had taken, made us quite com-
fortable. The only thing wanting was hay (corn
they had in plenty) ; but I soon remedied that
want by shackling the horse's fore-legs with a

8 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. I.

couple of dog-straps, and turning him loose in
the short sweet grass by the edge of the lake.

On the following morning, at the instigation of
one of our party, who was very anxious to procure
some eggs of the black-throated diver {Colymbus
arcticus), we started for Loch Urigil, a lake about
two miles from the inn. Our first step was to
launch our boat in the lake, close to the door ;
and having crossed this piece of water, we dragged
the boat out again, and, mounting it on our
shoulders, carried it across the hill to the other
lake. Little, however, had we reckoned on the
distance we had to go.

" How far is the lake from here ?" was our
inquiry on leaving the water-side.

" Oh, just over yonder brae," was the answer
of the innkeeper, as he pointed to a height a few
hundred yards off.

" How far do you say ?"

" Just a wee bit."

But that weary " wee bit " of the innkeeper's !
Many an anathema was poured on the head of our
guide before we had got the boat fairly afloat in
Loch Urigil. Once there, however, our cares were
soon forgotten. My friend put his fishing-rod
together ; while I, accompanied by Mr. Dunbar,
went off in the boat to the islands on the lake, in

View from Loch Urigil.

Vol. i. p. 9.]

CH. I. DIVERS AND WILD GEESE. 9

order to see what birds were breeding there. We
first made for a small island covered with the
brightest green foliage that I ever saw, which, how-
ever, turned out to be nothing but the wild leek.
The nature of the plant was most unpleasantly
forced upon my observation by the very strong
scent the leaves produced when trodden upon.

There were three of these beautiful birds (the
black-throated diver) on the loch, but no eggs.
On some of the other islands were a number of
wild-geese (Anscr fcrus), the original kind from
which our common domestic goose is derived.
They had two or three nests on one island, but we
found no eggs. Their nests were large and quite
exposed, consisting of a large mass of down, kept
together by coarse grass and herbage. The old
birds, when disturbed, flew off the island, some of
them alighting on the loch, and others on the short
green grass about the edge of the water, where they
commenced grazing after the manner of tame geese.
Having procured one or two specimens of the black-
throated diver, I landed, and sat down to enjoy the
magnificent scenery and all its accompaniments.
The peewit, redshank, curlew, and golden plover
kept up a constant warfare of clamour against me
for some time, till, finding that I did not molest
them, they gradually returned to their domestic

10 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. I.

occupations. All these birds had probably eggs
near the spot. After a short time they ran and
walked about fearlessly, quite regardless of my
being so near them ; while the lively and restless
little dunlin ran almost over my feet without fear,
as I sat near the edge of the loch.

The mountains of Corgach and Assynt, some of
which I could see from Loch Urigil, are of a very
striking and peculiar form, standing out boldly and
independently from the lower hills that surrounded
them. Occasionally a curlew would come wheeling
over my head, uttering its loud cry of alarm and
warning, something between a whistle and a scream ;
but he soon sailed back to his mate on the sloping
moss that covered the hill-side near the lake. A
beautiful cock grouse came down within a few yards
of me, and picked about amongst the stones at the
edge of the water, occasionally stopping as if to
exhibit himself as he stood erect with his bright-
red comb raised to its utmost height. When at
last he saw me, instead of seeming alarmed, he rose
and alighted again on a small hillock only a few
feet farther off, and stood there some minutes watch-
ing me closely, and then flew off, crowing a short
distance up the heather. The gray geese seemed
in constant motion, sometimes feeding and some-
times flying after each other in pairs with loud cries.

CH. I. TROUT OF LOCH URIGIL. 11

After waiting some time about the edge of the
loch I rejoined my companions, and we again re-
newed our portage of the boat over that weary hill.
I had left a line with several hooks baited with
small trout in the lake near the inn, and on return-
ing found a salmo ferox which weighed something
above two pounds on it. While taking in the line
a monster trout ran at the fish already caught, and,
notwithstanding its size, nearly swallowed it, leav-
ing the marks of his teeth in the shape of deep
cuts across the middle of the two-pound trout. I
should like to have seen the fish at closer quarters
who made an attack on such a goodly-sized bait,
as he must have been a perfect fresh-water shark.
There can be no doubt that in some of these lakes,
where the water is deep and the food plentiful,
these trout must grow to a size not yet ascertained.
None of these lakes have ever been properly fished.
A few days' trolling can never be depended on as
a proof of the size of the fish in them, more par-
ticularly as we all know that the larger a trout is
the less inclined is he to take any bait. I will
leave it for others to judge of the size of a trout
that could nearly swallow one of his own species
weighing considerably above two pounds.

During our drive to Inchnadamph in the after-
noon we had a fine view of Benmore of Assynt, and

12 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. I.

numerous other magnificent mountains, gray and
dreary, and with but little vegetation of any kind,
although along the edges of the lakes and streams
there is always a certain width of bright green
herbage, where the sheep at this season find plenty
of good grazing. The long ranges of cliff-like rocks
near Inchnadamph are very splendid in their height
and shape, and are frequented by buzzards, ravens,
gray crows, and a pair of peregrine falcons. Not-
withstanding all these enemies the ring-ousel sings
from every green corner of the rocks, while wheat-
ears (safer perhaps from their smaller size and their
habit of dodging under the stones) are extremely
numerous everywhere along the road side. At
Inchnadamph we arrived late in the evening, and
found a comfortable, clean inn, an obliging land-
lord, and all the accompaniments that one could
wish to refresh both mind and body (I am afraid
that the former is sadly dependent on the latter),
at the end of rather a hard and long day's work,
for we had been actively employed from daylight.
The black-throated diver (Colymbus arcticus) is
a peculiarly beautiful and singularly marked bird.
Though generally rare, in certain localities which
happen to be adapted to its habits this bird is not
unfrequently to be found during the breeding
season. It invariably breeds on some small, flat

CH. J. BLACK-THROATED DIVER. 13

island in an inland lake ; it prefers, and indeed is
seldom found except in, lakes which lie in a flat or
open part of the country, and which have shallows
and grassy creeks, as it feeds more on frogs, leeches,
and similar productions of such places than on the
trout that frequent the more stony and deeper parts
of the lake. Apparently from the position of its
legs and feet, this diver cannot walk on land, and
therefore places her eggs within a very few feet of
the water's edge on a flat island where it can reach
them by a kind of waddling, seal-like motion. I
never found above two eggs in a nest, and do not
believe that they ever lay more, although I have
been told of three having been procured. The egg
is of a long and regular oval form, and large ; the
colour is a tine rich brown green with darker spots.
This bird appears to have great difficulty in rising
from the water on a calm day, and sometimes
nothing will induce it to fly, although when once
on wing it flies strong and high. When two or
more are in company I have never seen them rise ;
they appear then to trust more to diving for safety;
but when a black-throated diver is alone lie will
frequently take to flight most unexpectedly aid
leave the loch altogether. Unluckily, the very
great beauty of its plumage, and the rarity and
difficulty of procuring it, make this interesting bird

H TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. t'H. I.

an object of pursuit amongst bird-stuffers and col-
lectors, and this, combined with the price offered
for1 its eggs by egg collectors, will soon entirely
extirpate it from all its present breeding-places.

The cry of this diver is loud, peculiar, and
mournful, and it has acquired the local name of
rain-goose among the Highlanders, owing to its
habit of uttering its croaking call with great per-
severance before rain or stormy weather. Its other
local and Gaelic names signify the loch hen, and
the great loch hen, in distinction to the red-throated
diver, which is also frequently found in this county.
The latter bird (Colymbus septentrionalis) is much
commoner, and is neither so large nor handsome a
bird as the former. It is also distinguished readily
by the light brownish red neck. The red-throated
diver breeds often near small pools and lochs, and
lays its eggs more frequently on the shore of the
mainland surrounding the loch than on an island.
It is not so shy a bird as the black-throated diver,
but not being so much valued by collectors, has,
I hope, a chance of existing some time yet as an
inhabitant of Britain during the breeding season.

I found that all the shepherds, gamekeepers, and
others in this remote part of the kingdom had
already ascertained the value of the eggs of this
and other rare birds, and were as eauer to search

<![. I. HERONRY — PEREGRINE FALCON. 15

for them, and as loth to part with them (except-
ing at a very high price), as love of gain could
make them. Nor had they the least scruple in
endeavouring to impose eggs under fictitious names
on any person wishing to purchase such things.
Indeed I am very sure that many of the eggs
sold by London dealers are acquired in this way,
and are not to be in the least depended on as to
their identity.

I was told of a singular heronry situated on a
lake between Oykel and the inn at Altnagalcanach,
where the herons breed in great numbers on the
ground in an island on the loch. The place being
situated at some distance from the road, I had not
time to look for it, much as I should have liked
to have seen the heron building in such a situa-
tion ; but as we drove along I saw several herons
winging their heavy flight towards the place
where I was told this lake was situated.

Before we started from Inchnadamph, wishing
to procure some eggs of the peregrine falcon, who
bred in the cliff near the inn, I procured the
assistance of two or three people, one of whom, a
young man, son of the innkeeper, volunteered to
go over the face of the rock with a rope round his
waist, we holding it from above. As it was not
only rainy but extremely windy, I was not very

16 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. I.

willing for him to do so. However, as lie seemed
quite confident in the steadiness of his own head
and footing, we prepared to perform our share of
the work. Having fastened the rope securely
round his body below his arms, we lowered him
gradually over the summit, immediately above the
nest of the. buzzard. He was provided also with
two or three joints of a fishing-rod, and a kind of
tin soup-ladle (bearing in this country the quaint
name of a " kail-divider "), which was fixed into the
small end of Ins rod. The use of this was to enable
him to spoon the eggs out of the nest, in case it
was placed, as the nests of these birds often are,
so far under a shelf of rock as to be inaccessible
without some such contrivance. Over he went
then without the smallest hesitation or nervous-
ness, notwithstanding the slippery state of the
whole rock and the violence of the wind. We
lowered yard by yard of the rope, till he looked
like a spider hanging at the end of its thread. He
then was quite lost to our view, having scrambled
under some projecting rocks to reach the nest.
After a few anxious moments he gave the agreed
upon signal for being drawn up, and I must say
that I was rejoiced when his head appeared again
safe above the edge of the cliff, holding in his
teeth his cap, in which he had deposited the eggs.

CH. I. BUZZARDS AND PEREGRINES. 17

We found that the peregrine's nest would have
been quite inaccessible even to our experienced
and bold climber but for his long spoon.

All the time that we had been engaged at the
buzzard's nest two pair of hawks were hovering
about us, keeping certainly at a respectful dis-
tance. It was interesting to observe the different
flights of the two kinds of hawk — the buzzards
sailing to and fro with slow but powerful wing,
and wheeling in large circles ; while the peregrines
dashed about, turning with rapid and sudden
swoops, sometimes below us and sometimes sud-
denly shooting high up into the mist, when we
could only tell their exact situation by their shrill
and angry cries. The buzzards uttered a kind of
low complaining cry, of quite a different expression
and note, as they floated to and fro below us.

VOL. I.

18

TOUR IN SUTHERLAND.

C'H. II.

CHAPTEE II.

Inn at Inchnadamph — Liberal System of the Duke of Suther-
land— Facility of Travelling — Beauty of Country — Loch
Assynt — Nest of Osprey — Large Spring of "Water — Water-
Ousel — Dense Mist — Wild Country near Kylesku — Country
between Kylesku and Scowrie — Nest of Osprey; curious
position of — Eagle.

Being under a good and liberal landlord is like
being under a good and liberal government ; and
this we found to be the case at Inchnadamph, which
is held under the Duke of Sutherland, or (as he is
equally well known here) the " good Duke " — a
title, by the way, his Grace may be prouder of than
any other that could be invented. Throughout
the Duke's property here the innkeepers hold their
houses (and capital ones they are) rent free, and
have certain other advantages in hiring their land,
and in having every encouragement that the most
kind and judicious liberality of the proprietor can
give them, on (I believe) the express condition that
their inns should be decently kept and the charges
moderate. The consequence of which arrangement is
that strangers can travel through this otherwise wild
and lonely country with every facility and comfort,

CH. II. INCHNADAMPH — LOCH ASSYNT. 19

and without the disagreeable feeling of being doubly-
overcharged because they are strangers. Neverthe-
less, with all this facility and comfort, but very few
strangers do come to see this magnificent scenery,
simply, I fancy, because it is little known and not
yet the fashion. Most visitors to the Highlands
drive straight from their home in England or
elsewhere to the ground which they have hired
for grouse-shooting or other sporting, and after a
certain number of weeks drive straight back again.
Very few travel here for the sake of seeing the wild
scenery of the north and north-west part of the
island, where there is little in the way of game to
tempt sportsmen. To me, however, it is the most
attractive part of Scotland; and the season I delight
in most is during the months of June and July,
when the sun scarcely dips below the horizon and
it is light during the whole night — light enough,
indeed, to read small print with ease without the
aid of candles or even of the moon. Backed by that
fine old-looking mountain Benmore of Assynt, the
inn at Inchnadamph has for its front view the beau-
tiful and extensive loch of Assynt, and one of the
finest mountains in the North, called by a name that
sounds like Coignaghin. To my English ears, how-
ever, the name was quite unattainable. This moun-
tain towards its summit forms a singularly-shaped

20 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. II.

cliff, round which I have generally seen one or two
trolden eagles soaring with strong and majestic flight.
At Loch Assynt, on a peninsula (once an island,
and now occasionally so), there are the ruins of an
old castle. On the summit of the highest part of
the wall is an immense pile of weather-beaten and
bleached sticks, which two years ago formed an
osprey's nest, but, unluckily, this most interesting
bird has been killed or driven from its picturesque
and exposed dwelling-place. Nothing could be
more characteristic of the bird than this nest
perched on the highest corner of the ruin, over-
hanging the broad lake, which abounds with trout
of all sizes. The Salmo ferox, or great lake trout,
is more plentiful in Loch Assynt than in most
Highland lakes. A short distance above the inn at
Inchnadamph a spring rises from the limestone rocks
which it is worth travelling from London to see.
Direct from the ground bubbles up this spring with
such power and abundance that it at once forms a
goodly-sized brook of the most pure and transparent
water that can be imagined. The smallest trout
or the smallest pebbles are seen as clearly in its
deepest pools as if no water intervened. So bright
and clear are the streams flowing out of limestone,
that they have rather the effect that a good glass has
on a picture than that of making objects indistinct.

CH. II. OSPREY'S NEST — WATER-OUSEL. 21

We started from Inchnadamph inn in good time
in the morning, intending to reach Scowrie, about
twenty-one miles distant ; but the road being very
hilly, and a ferry intervening, we had to reckon
on many hours of travelling before we reached our
night's quarters. I walked on to look at the osprey's
nest on the old castle, and an interesting sight it
is, thouo'h I lamented the absence of the birds.
Why the poor osprey should be persecuted I know
not, as it is quite harmless, living wholly on fish,
of which every one knows that there is too great
an abundance in this country for the most rigid
preserver to grudge this picturesque bird his share.
The fact probably is that his skin is worth some-
thing to keepers and others, as they can always
get a few shillings for it, and therefore the bird is
doomed to destruction. The " auri sacra fames "
will soon put an end to his race in this country.

In the midst of a steep and tolerably high water-
fall, perched on a small piece of projecting rock,
and surrounded by the dashing water, I saw one
of my favourite birds, the water-ousel, his white
breast conspicuous even amongst the white foam.
A twisted birch and a bunch of bright green fern
growing out of the rock, constantly watered by the
spray of the fall, made as pretty a little scene for a
painter as I ever saw. Water-ousels seem to prefer

22 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. II.

picturesque dwelling-places, or rather, I suppose,
they choose such spots as being better suited for
placing their curious-shaped nest in than any other.

While I was examining a kind of simple but
most serviceable stone-mill, used for grinding the
stone of which these excellent roads are made, the
carriage came up, and we proceeded. Coming to
a road leading off the main one, and going straight
up a hill northwards, Dunbar assured us that this
was our route ; so with rather an envious look at
the straight level road before us which we were
leaving, we turned our faces to the hill. After
going about two miles, not quite perpendicularly
(the way gradually getting worse), we suddenly
came to an abrupt termination of the track.
Through the driving mist, which had now become
quite thick, we saw a most desolate-looking house
some few hundred yards off, and there found that
we had turned off the road too soon, and had to
retrace our steps.

The next turning off was the right one, and we
laboured again up the hill, northwards, but with
a better road. The higher we ascended the denser
was the mist ; and though we occasionally heard
the grouse-cock crow pretty near us, we could see
nothing, absolutely nothing, except the road under
our feet.

CH. II. FERRY OF KYLESKU. 23

I was amused by my friend's good-natured
philosophy : when I lamented loudly the curtain
of mist which was entirely shutting out the mag-
nificent hill under which we were then passing, he
comforted me by saying that he preferred almost
the scene as it then was (the mist occasionally
giving us a momentary peep at some gray rock,
and then shutting it out), as it added a kind of
mysterious interest to the wild scenery through
which we were passing.

After working our weary way up hill for some
time we crossed the highest ridge of our road and
began to descend towards the ferry of Kylesku, by
which we were to pass an arm of the sea that runs
a considerable distance inland. As we came lower
the mist gradually disappeared, and at last we were
fairly out of it, although it remained as dense as
ever above us, quite concealing all the higher
grounds. I never saw such a confusion of rock
and stone as we passed through for some two or
three miles. The rocks seemed to have been
splintered and broken up by some great convulsion
of the earth ; all looking broken and angular, none
of them wearing a round weather-worn appearance,
or being much overgrown with heather or herbage.
Eagles are by no means scarce in this part of
the country, but as they hunt principally in the

24

TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. II.

higher districts, they are not seen so often as
might be expected, excepting by an eye that is
accustomed to them.

Having rested our horse and drank tea (the only
meal we could get) at the ferry-house, we man-
aged to persuade the landlord, who was also ferry-
man, to leave the hot whisky and water which he
was drinking with some acquaintance of his own
at that hour, twelve a.m., and ferry us across.

We entered into conversation with a shepherd on
the north side of the ferry, who told us of a nest of
the " Eagle Fisher," as he called it, on an island in
a loch not very far from the road ; so we appointed
the man to meet us the following morning at a
certain place, and drove on to Scowrie, through a
succession of the most wild and rocky passes, along
which the road is carried with a skill that does
infinite credit to the engineer who formed it. Occa-
sionally the scene is varied by glimpses of the sea,
studded, as it there is, with islands. The country
continues still of the same aspect ; consisting of the
most confused and disorderly chaos of broken and
rugged rocks, but with rank heather and warm shel-
tered corners and nooks, with little clumps of birch-
trees already in full leaf. Many, too, of the innum-
erable deep-looking lochs by the roadside have
islands covered with birch and rank heather — the

CH. II. INN AT SCOWRIE. 25

haunts of numbers of otters. There seems a great
scarcity of birds of all kinds; which is accounted
for by the number of marten and wild cats who live
here, amongst the great and nearly inaccessible
masses of rock, in the most perfectly undisturbed
security. Cuckoos, wheatears, and ring-ousels seemed
to be almost the only feathered inhabitants, with an
occasional pair of ravens or peregrine falcons.

The inn at Scowrie, kept by a man of a most
un-Highland name, viz., " Tough," is excellent, and
most cleanly and comfortable did we find it, and the
people full of civility. Unluckily there were two
shiploads of emigrants on the point of leaving a
harbour near Scowrie, and their friends were wishing
them a good voyage in many a bumper of whisky,
with the usual accompaniment of bagpipes and reels ;
so that what with their songs, their music, and the
beating of their feet, as they danced under the in-
spiration both of whisky and pipes, there was a tol-
erable noise kept up till daylight. But mountain
travelling and a feeling that it was impossible and
unjust to be angry with the poor fellows enabled me
soon to sleep as comfortably as if all had been still.

At daylight, according to appointment, I started
with Mr. Dunbar in the boat, but drawn by a small
Highland pony whose services we had engaged, for
the purpose of getting to the nest of the " Eagle

26 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. II.

Usher," as the osprey is sometimes called in Gaelic.
At the nearest point of the road to the lake we un-
shipped the boat, and making traces out of rope, we
fastened the pony to it, leaving the under carriage
and wheels by the roadside ; we then managed to
get the boat to the water's edge, the pony scram-
bling, in a manner practised only by mountain-bred
ponies, over bog and rock, dragging the boat after
him, while we did our utmost to keep it from
injury, or from getting stuck in the rough ground.

I was delighted beyond expression at seeing the
two ospreys, one of them on the nest and the other
soaring above the loch, uttering cries of alarm at
our approach.

The nest was placed in a most curious situation.
About a hundred and fifty yards from the shore there
rose from the deep water a solitary rock about ten
feet high, shaped like a broken sugar-loaf or trun-
cated cone : on the summit of this was the nest —
a pile of sticks of very great depth, evidently the
accumulation of many breeding seasons, as the
osprey returns year after year to the same nest.
How this heap of sticks withstood the winter gales
without being blown at once into the water puzzled
me. In a crevice of the rock was a small tuft or two
of green, otherwise it was perfectly bare and steep.

We launched our little bark and were soon

CH. II. osprey's nest. 27

pulling strongly against a head wind across the
loch. The female osprey allowed us to approach
. within two hundred yards or so, and then leaving
her nest, sailed upwards with a circling flight till
she joined her mate high above us.

Having reached the rock, and with some diffi-
culty ascended to the nest, our disappointment may
be imagined when we found it empty. From the
old bird having remained on so long, we had made
sure of finding eggs in it. The nest itself, however,
was interesting to me, perched as it was on the
very summit of the rock, and composed of large
sticks, every one of which must have been a
heavy burden for a bird of the size of the osprey.
In the centre of the pile of sticks was a cup-
shaped hollow, the size of a boy's cap, lined with
moss and dead grass, and apparently quite ready
to receive eggs. It was of no use lamenting, so
we turned our boat towards the landing-place, and
drifted back quickly and in silence. Some hooded
crows, perceiving that both the ospreys were off
their nest, immediately made a dash towards it,
and I was much amused at seeing the skirmishing
between these mischievous and cunning marauders
and the two ospreys ; the latter fighting simply
pro aris et focis, having no eggs or young to defend;
while the crows fought lustily in the hope only of

28

TOUR IN SUTHERLAND.

CH. II.

finding something in the nest, calculating, probably,
as we had done, that the ospreys would not have
been sitting on an empty nest.

On returning to the inn at Scowrie I found
that my friend had been more profitably employed
in catching a dish of fine-looking though muddy
tasted trout in a small rushy loch close to the inn.

One of the Duke of Sutherland's foresters
brought in a very fine white-tailed eagle, which
he had shot the day before : unluckily the plumage
was quite destroyed in consequence of the keeper
having, to " make sure," discharged his gun at the
bird a second time after it had fallen, in conse-
quence of which the head was nearly blown off.
I procured, however, some feathers for the large
salmon fly which we fish with in the Spey river,
in making which the eagle's feather is the prin-
cipal material employed.

-^

Osprey's Nest.

Vol. i. p. 29.

CH. III. ANOTHER OSPREY'S NEST. 29

CHAPTER III.

Inn at Scowrie — Another Osprey's Nest — The old Ospreys ;
Eggs of — The River Laxford — Inn of Rhiconnieh — Drive to
Durness — Beauty of Scenery — Drive round Loch Emboli —
Glenmore — Loch Maddie — Crows — Gray Geese; time of
breeding — Old Nest of Osprey — Stag in the Loch — Fox-
hound — Black - throated Divers — Aultnaharrow — Loch
Laighal — Squall of Wind.

We were loth to leave our comfortable hostel at
Scowrie, particularly without visiting the island
of Handa, a great breeding-place of sea-fowl ; but
being rather pressed for time, we got again under
weigh for Durness. Our landlord at Scowrie
having told us that he had heard that the osprey
was building on an island in a loch about a mile
from our road, we left the horse and boat under
charge of a bare-legged and bare-headed boy at
the place he mentioned (a small bridge about three
miles from Scowrie), and went to a point of rock,
from which we could command a view of the loch
in question. We immediately through a glass dis-
covered the nest of the osprey, built in exactly a
similar situation to the last ; that is, on the summit
of a rock about eight feet high, shaped like a trun-
cated cone, and standing exposed and alone in the

30 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. III.

loch. On coming nearer we could distinguish the
white head of the female osprey on the nest. The
male bird was not in view. It was determined that
I should remain concealed near the loch, while my
two companions went for the boat. This plan was
adopted for the double reason that I might be at
hand to shoot any hooded crow who might attempt
to take the eggs while the osprey was off, she hav-
ing left the nest on our approach, and also that I
might have a chance of shooting the old osprey
herself in case she came within shot. I must say
that I would rather she had escaped this fate ; but
as her skin was wanted, I agreed to try to kill her.
For some time after the departure of my com-
panions she flew round and round at a great height,
occasionally drifting away with the high wind, and
then returning to the loch. She passed two or three
times not very far from me before I shot at her.
But at last I fired, and the poor bird, after wheeling
blindly about for a few moments, fell far to leeward
of me, and down amongst the most precipitous and
rocky part of the mountain, quite dead. She was
scarcely down behind the cliffs when I heard the
cry of an osprey in quite a different direction, and
on looking that way I saw the male bird flying
up from a great distance. As he came nearer I
could distinguish plainly with my glass that he

CH. III. osprey's EGGS. 31

was carrying a fish in his claws. On approaching
he redoubled his cries, probably expecting the
well-known answer or signal of gratitude from his
mate ; but not hearing her, he flew on till he came
immediately over the nest. I could plainly see
him turning his head to the right and left, as if
looking for her, and as if in astonishment at her
unwonted absence. He came lower and lower still,
holding the fish in las feet, which were stretched
out at full length from his body. Not seeing
her, he again ascended and flew to the other end
of the lake, the rocks echoing his shrill cry. The
poor bird, after making one or two circuits of the
lake, then flew away far out of sight, still keeping
possession of the fish. He probably went to look
for the female at some known and frequented
haunt, as he flew rapidly off in a direct line. He
soon, however, came over the lake again and con-
tinued his flight to and fro and his loud cries for
above an hour, still keeping the fish ready for his
mate. I at length heard the voices of my friends,
and we soon launched the boat. The osprey be-
came much agitated as we neared the rock where
the nest was, and dropped the fish he held into
the water. We found two beautiful eggs in the
nest, of a roundish shape ; the colour white, with
numerous spots and marks of a fine rich red

32 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. III.

brown. As we came away we still observed the
male bird unceasingly calling and seeking for his
hen. I was really sorry that I had shot her.

This excursion to the lake hindered us so long-
that, after resting our horse at Ehiconnich, we
did not reach Durness till late at night.

From Scowrie to Durness, particularly about
Ehiconnich, the road winds through a constant
succession of the most rocky, rugged, and wild glens
that it is possible to imagine, with here and there
beautiful sheets of water, deep, and darkly shaded
by the overhanging rocks, and occasionally by small
birch-woods. Winding round near the mouth of
the Laxford river, we saw an osprey fishing in, or
rather over, the pools near the bay. I am told that
the Laxford is one of the best, if not quite the best,
sea-trout stream in the North. There are gloriously
wild and rocky mountains rising from the landward
side of the road, with the most fantastic and pic-
turesque outlines. The bay at Ehiconnich, too, is
very beautiful. The whole road, indeed, commands
one constant and endless succession of scenery
equally magnificent and wild ; nor does the tra-
veller drive a mile throughout this journey without
some new and most interesting view — varied, too,
as it is by rock, water, and mountain, by the rich
brown of the heather, the vivid green of the birch-

CH. III. DURNESS — FINE SEA VIEW. 33

woods, and the grassy banks of some of the streams,
and also by the deep blue of the lochs. The eye
.never wearies of being kept constantly occupied
in admiring the surrounding objects. I shall not
forget, however, one part of our drive between
Ehiconnich and Durness, where the road passes
over a wild and dreary hill-side, at a considerable
height above the valley below us. Here for some
miles we were exposed to the coldest and most driv-
ing and wettest mist that ever disgraced a May day.
Nothing could be seen twenty yards from the road
excepting the drifting clouds. Luckily the wind
was behind us, as it would have been almost im-
possible to have faced it. It cleared off again, how-
ever ; and before we reached Durness the night was
as calm and bright as the morning had been. We
did not arrive at Durness till eleven at night, and
then we found no one up ; indeed we had great
difficulty in finding the inn, as there was nothing
to distinguish it from any other house in the scat-
tered village, excepting that it was considerably
larger than its neighbours. After some time, how-
ever, we did find one person awake, and got com-
fortably housed in this very excellent inn.

Nothing can exceed the sea view from Durness,
as you look along the varied line of abrupt rocks
to the cliff called " Far-out Head," which is very

VOL. i. D

34 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. III.

nearly if not quite as northerly a point as Cape

Wrath.

Having passed the end of Loch Emboli, and
having procured a feed of corn for our horse from
Mr. Clark (the tenant of the sheep farm here), we
worked a zigzag course up the largest and steepest
hill we had to contend with throughout our whole
journey. Then descending, we passed the face
of a hill, cut and intersected by numberless small
streams of the most pure and transparent water
that I ever saw, which take their rise from the
limestone rocks above.

Loch Emboli is one of the numerous creeks
reaching into the mainland from the North Sea,
and often serving for a refuge to shipping, which
otherwise must inevitably perish in every violent
north and north-east wind on this iron-bound coast.
On our way from this loch we passed the head of
a fine fresh-water lake, Loch Hope, and up a mag-
nificent glen called Glenmore (I believe), the sides
of which, woody and precipitous, abound in the
wilder ferce nakirce of the island. Wild and marten
cats live here in peace, and we frequently saw
eagles sailing about the higher cliffs, and sometimes
perched on some pinnacle of rock. We found out
by chance a very perfect echo, repeating every word,
and even sentences, with the greatest exactness, and

CH. III. BIRDS OF LOCH MADDIE. 35

passing from one side of the valley to the other
till the sounds died away in an indistinct murmur.
- After emerging from this splendid strath we
arrived at the edge of a wide loch with many green
islands on it, called Loch Maddie. Here again
we put our boat afloat, and leaving our luggage,

etc., under charge of Leo, while J fished,

Mr. Dunbar and I went to search the islands in
order to discover what birds were breeding there.
We found several hooded crows' nests in the birch-
trees on the islands, where they had hitherto lived
and plundered in perfect security. However, we
destroyed their eggs and young without mercy,
and shot the birds themselves whenever and
wherever we could.

The hooded crow is the only bird against whom
I wage constant and unpitying warfare ; I have so
constantly detected them destroying my most
favourite birds and their eggs, that I have no pity
on them. We also found in these islands many nests
of the Gray lag goose. To make sure of the species
I shot some of the old birds, it having been rather
a disputed question amongst several of my friends
whether the goose breeding in this country is the
Gray lag {Anser ferus) or the Bean goose (Anser
segetum). All the geese on Loch Macldie were
the Gray lag ; indeed I never saw any of the Bean

36 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. III.

geese breeding in Sutherland, excepting on the
islands of Loch Shin,1 where a few still breed
annually in spite of the constant and cruel war-
fare waged against them. The number of eggs
in each nest was from four to seven, and they had
all been apparently sat upon for some time : indeed
we found one brood of young birds at least four or
five days old. This being on the 18 th of May,
proves that this bird arrives at its breeding-place
very early. A goose sits a month, so that sup-
posing these young birds were four days old, it
carries back the time when the old bird commenced
sitting to the 14th of April; and then allowing
ten days for the bird to prepare her nest and lay
her eggs, the Gray lag goose cannot arrive at the
breeding-places later than the 1st or 2d of April.
The Bean goose arrives in Morayshire and that part
of Scotland from the south as nearly as possible in
the third week of March, their arrival a few days
earlier or later depending on the state of the weather;
and the flocks do not leave that country till the
29th or 30th of April, some few even remaining
several days afterwards. This fact shows a great
distinction in the habits of the two kinds of geese ;
for while the Bean goose (Anser segetum) is still

1 An error. The Bean goose breeds nowhere in Scotland.
J. A. H.-B.

CH. III. OLD NEST OF OSPREY. 37

fattening on the oat and pea fields, the Gray lag
goose (Anser ferus) has already laid, and is nearly
hatching her eggs, in the wilds of Sutherland. In
one island, containing a few stunted birch-trees, we
saw an old osprey's nest, not now tenanted; but I am
told that the old birds were inhabiting it two years
ago. The nest was most interesting : it was placed
in a fork of the tree so low that we could see into
it without climbing, and it consisted of a perfect
cartload of sticks, varying from the size of a very
stout walking-stick down to the twigs of birch and
heather of which the inner part of the fabric was
composed. I did not measure the nest, but as
nearly as I could guess, it was not less than eight
feet in length and nearly four in width ; the depth,
too, was very great ; the inner lining was com-
posed of a coarse kind of grass that grows in these
islands. Although the nest must have weathered
many a winter storm of wind, snow, and rain, and
was quite bleached, it was still fixed firmly in the
fork of the birch-tree. To have seen the ospreys
building up this great and strong mass would have
repaid one for a journey of many a long mile.

Wilson mentions that in America the osprey
builds constantly in trees, but in this country it
seldom does so, probably from the want of trees
suitable for the purpose. I have been told, how-

38 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. III.

ever, that a nest is still to be seen on a tree in
one of the large pine-woods in Strathspey.

A very curious circumstance happened on the
same island, which strongly indicated the habits
of red deer during the season when their horns are
soft and liable to injury. The island, which is
scarcely a rifle-shot in length, and less in breadth,
is very rough, and cut up like an old peat moss, but
covered with very high heather and coarse grass, in
which the wild goose forms her nest. While I
was looking about quietly in the broken clefts and
ground for these nests, a large stag suddenly rose
at my very feet out of a deep hollow — that is,
deep comparatively speaking, and just sufficiently
so for a stag to lie in. The wind was high, and
he either had not heard me or he remained quiet
in hopes that I should pass without perceiving
him ; at any rate he did not move till I nearly
stepped upon him. He then rose, and in two
springs was in the water and swimming strongly
and bravely for the opposite mountain. A stag
swims with very great speed and ease : in a short
time he reached the shore, which was a good half-
mile from the island, and having shaken himself, I
saw him through my glass take a long look back,
and then he trotted slowly up the shoulder of the
hill. In my numerous deer-stalking excursions I

CH. III. STAG IN LOCH MADDIE — FOX-HOUND. 39

certainly never was so near to an nnwounded deer ;
he had evidently been living in solitary security
for some time on the island, and feeding on the
coarse grass and plants. He probably had been
there ever since he had cast his horns, as the
new ones were about five or six inches in length.
While on this island, too, another interesting
incident took place. "We heard the baying of a
hound on the shore. At first I imagined that some
fox-hunter's dog had strayed away in pursuit of and
was still running a fox or deer ; but on looking
with my glass, I saw a fine fox-hound sitting on
a point of land which reached into the lake, and
howling in a manner which plainly showed he had
lost his master; and having heard me fire at a crow,
he imagined that I was the person he was in search
of. After howling for a minute or two, till the
hills around echoed with his deep voice, the gallant
dog swam into the loch and made for an island on
which I had fired at a gray crow. I saw him land
and, with nose to the ground, take up our track ;
but after a little hesitation he found that the scent
was not that of his master, nor of any one he knew,
so plunging into the loch again he made for the
mainland, and having reached it after a stout
battle with the waves (the wind then being high),
he continued his search round the shore of the lake,

40 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. III.

taking, however, no further notice of us, although
I fired one or two more shots within Ins hearing.
The instinct and reasoning of the dog struck me
as very great in his manner of trying if we belonged
to the party who had been up to the high ground
before daybreak in pursuit of a lamb-killing fox ;
for we afterwards heard that the fox-hunter of the
district had been following his avocation on the
heights of Ben Cleebrick that morning, and that
some of his dogs had strayed away from him in
pursuit, probably, of a deer, though he owned
only to their having followed a fox.

As we were rowing back to the point where we
launched the boat, we suddenly came upon no less
than six of those beautiful birds, the black-throated
diver. "We pursued them immediately, and drove
them up into a small bay of the lake : there after
much trouble we managed to shoot one, the rest
escaping by diving under the boat or round it, and
getting off into the wide part of the loch. None
of them attempted to take flight, although so hard
pressed and hemmed up into a corner of the lake.
When one was separated from the rest he gener-
ally began to croak in the voice peculiar to these
birds. In consequence of their swimming so low
in the water and their great strength, it is very
difficult to shoot them, particularly as when they

CH. III. LOCH NAVER — LOCH LAIGHAL. 41

are once alarmed they dive so suddenly that they
are frequently too quick even for a percussion
gun. When alone this bird takes wing readily
enough, and flies off to some neighbouring lake
with a quick and lofty flight.

We found our luggage safe under the care of
the faithful dog, who had never left his charge, and
before dark we arrived at the inn of Aultnaharrow,
which is situated near one of the finest lakes in
the country, Loch Naver. Like all the inns in
Sutherland which are under the efficient and
liberal management of the Duke's factors, Ault-
naharrow is clean and comfortable.

The following day, leaving my friend to fish in
Loch Naver, I drove off in the boat, accompanied
by Dunbar and one of Lord Ellesmere's foresters
who lives close to the inn, for a loch called Loch
Laighal, or, as it is pronounced, Loch Loyal. This
is another fine sheet of water several miles in
length, with a few islands, the breeding-places of
gray geese and numberless gulls. There were
vast flocks of that magnificent bird the great
black-backed gull (Larus marinus), and also of
the lesser black-backed gull {Larus fuscus). The
former is a most splendid and beautiful bird, with
its pure black and white plumage, and a stretch
of wing little less than that of the golden eagle.

42 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. III.

We had scarcely launched our boat on the
water, leaving the forester on shore, as our tiny-
craft scarcely held three people comfortably, when
a squall of wind came on, blowing down the side
of Ben Loyal in a perfect hurricane right from the
shore which we had just left. Short as the dis-
tance was, we could not row back against it, and
had nothing left for it but to go before the wind
right across the large loch, fully a mile and a
half in width at that part. At the same time,
owing to the lowness of the stern, our only chance
of safety was to keep the head of the boat to
windward, a matter of no small difficulty, as the
wind blew in the most violent gusts and increased
every moment. The slightest turn of the boat,
which would bring her at all broadside to the
wind, must have instantly swamped her, and with
this pleasant prospect before us we went with
fearful speed across the loch. The only tiling I
dreaded was that anything should give way about
the oars, or the pins that they worked upon, as
nothing could then have saved us. However, Diis
aliter visum, and we landed safely, but wet enough,
on the opposite shore, and right glad we both were
when we looked back at the water, winch was per-
fectly white with foam, to feel our feet once more
on terra firma. I mention this incident as a warning

CH. III. SQUALL OF WIND — LARGE ADDER. 43

to any person who may fish or sail on any of these
fresh-water lakes surrounded by mountains, to be-
ware of sudden squalls of this kind ; for in this
instance nothing but a strong arm and good row-
ing saved us from certain drowning, which would
nevertheless have been our fate had the least bolt
or fastening given way about the oars, for once
broaching to must have swamped us. The wind
soon fell, the day became hot, and the beautiful
lake with its green banks was again as smooth as
glass. Few of the gulls had laid, but we found
some more eggs of the Gray lag goose. One nest
was in a very peculiar situation for a wild-goose,
being in the midst of and overhung by a thicket
of small birch-trees. The otter seems to live in
undisturbed security in the islands on all these
lakes, as the heather, etc., is full of their roads
and marks.

On the stones near the lake I picked up a large
adder. As I held her up by her throat it was
curious to see the fierce expression of rage the
creature put on, and also how its long teeth pro-
jected, as if eager to be fastened in my hand, while
a drop of bright yellow liquid oozed out at the
points of each of its venomous fangs. I knew that
this was the poison, but had no idea that these
reptiles could produce so large a quantity at once.

44

TOUR IN SUTHERLAND.

CH. III.

Loch Laighal, Loch Maddie, and Loch Naver all
abound in the finest trout, and contain also plenty
of the Salmo ferox or great lake trout, which is
caught only by trolling, or by lines baited with
small fish. In Loch Naver there are plenty of
salmon : I am told that they rise freely and well
when the wind is from the south-east, but seldom
when it blows from any other quarter.

CH. IV. TRAVELLING FROM EDINBURGH. 45

CHAPTEE IV.

Return to Sutherland — Travelling from Edinburgh — Skye
Terrier; peculiarities of — Lairg — Loch Shin — River Shin
— Reserve of the English — Mr. Young's experiments
respecting Salmon ; Anecdotes of Salmon ; Manner of
Spawning; Food of Salmon — Drive to Aultnaharrow —
Curlews, etc. — Loch Naver — Phalaropes — Widgeon — Green-
shank, etc.

June 9 th. — Having been called suddenly to Eng-
land in the midst of my rambles in Sutheiiandshire
in May, I did not find myself again in that county
till the 9 th of June. Travelling (that is, the mere
act of passing along the road) takes up very little
of your time nowadays. You go from London to
Edinburgh in about thirteen hours, and a good
steamer takes the traveller from Granton Pier to
Invergordon in Boss-shire quickly and comfortably
enough ; that is, I left Granton at 6 a.m. on the
6 th, and landed at Invergordon early in the evening
of the 7th, accompanied only by a Skye terrier, who
from Ms earliest childhood, or rather puppyhood,
has always managed to stick closely to me. In
wild-fowl shooting, when no dog is required save a
quiet retriever, Fred (so was he christened by some
of my children) is always allowed to accompany me,

46 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IV.

as from his quiet discretion he is never in the way.
In roe-shooting also he is allowed to remain at my
feet while I am waiting in a pass. At the same
time, if permitted to hunt, no kind of animal, run-
ning or flying, quadruped or biped, comes amiss
to him, and he is equally at home in any ground,
rock, or loch. There is a kind of quiet, discre-
tionary courage that some of these rough terriers
have which is very amusing — nothing seems to put
them out, and Fred is as much at home in a crowded
railway station or London street as he is in a furze-
cover. He rather annoys me sometimes when tra-
velling, for as soon as he has seen me safely housed
in an hotel, he is very apt to wander off in search
of adventures and acquaintance of his own through
the town, wherever it is ; and although it may be a
new place to him, he invariably finds his way back
to my room for the time being, regardless of all
obstacles in the form of waiters, chambermaids, etc.
I used to be afraid of losing him, but after some
experience of his ways, I find that I may safely leave
him to his own devices ; for having once or twice
despatched ostlers and boys in all directions to
search for him, I perceived that he always came
back alone, looking rather ashamed of himself, and
not venturing to make himself very prominent in
the room till he had examined the expression of my

CH. IV. SKYE TERRIERS. 47

face from under a chair or sofa, for dogs are great
physiognomists. Then, on seeing that I am gene-
rally too pleased at his return to be angry at his
absence, he comes out of his place of refuge wrig-
gling his long rough body about in all sorts of
coaxing but uncouth attitudes, and at last, putting
his honest rough face in my hand or on my knee,
he finds that peace is declared, and he waits
patiently till I take hat in hand again ; for once
having explored the streets, he seems to take no
further interest in the place.

There is no end or limit to the quaint conceits
of some terriers of this kind, when they live in con-
stant intercourse with their masters. Fred's great
attachment to my children, too, makes him a uni-
versal favourite in the house, and he walks about
with them amongst their pet animals, apparently
taking as much interest in them as the children do
themselves. I must say, however, that he requires
a formal introduction to any new living acquisition
of this kind ; but once introduced to them, they
are safe from his strong white teeth for ever.

These terriers are excellent swimmers, and are
apparently as much at their ease in the water as
on land. Fred is as web-footed as an otter. Some
dogs dislike accompanying one to the river side only
to look on. Indeed, one retriever which I had be-

48 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IV.

came so bored and ennwyi with this work, that at
last I had only to show him my fishing-rod to in-
duce him immediately to retire to some hiding-
place rather than be asked to accompany me.
Another retriever, on the contrary, always took the
most lively interest in my fishing, watching the fly
and getting into a state of great excitement when-
ever I hooked a fish : indeed, if allowed to do so,
he would go in and land the fish, taking it carefully
and delicately by the back in his teeth ; but as he
often got entangled in the line and did mischief, I
was obliged to stop this. A great treat, however,
to this dog was to put some living sea-trout into
any shallow pool, where he could catch them and
bring them one by one to whoever carried the
fishing-basket.

I have no doubt that many wild animals, such
as the fox, wild- cat, polecat, etc., catch numbers
of fish during their nocturnal wanderings. Their
tracks about the water's edge have frequently
convinced me of this : the fish, too, being apt to
take to the shallows at night, are easier caught
than in the daytime.

To return, however, to Sutherlandshire. On the
7th of June I arrived at the good town of Tain,
and on the 9 th was at Lairg Inn. An excellent
place of rest, too, is the inn at Lairg, and the situa-

CH. IV. SHIN RIVER. 49

tion beautiful beyond description — at any rate it
is so on a fine day; but situated as it is at the
end of Loch Shin, a Highland lake about eighteen
miles in length, the prospect from the inn windows
must be very different on a wild autumn day, with
wind and sleet driving up from the west, from
what it was on the fine June evening on which
I arrived. The view combines the most happy
mixture of mountain, water, and green herbage,
dotted with fine old birch-trees : a few picturesque
buildings, too, which are seen from the inn, add
to the happy and riant expression of the scene.

The Shin river, which runs out of the lake near
the inn, is a fine and picturesque stream, charming
to the eye of both painter and fisherman. The
Shin salmon are of a large size and very plentiful.
I stopped for half an hour or so at the falls, two
or three miles from the lake, and saw a great
number of salmon, and even trout, leaping ; some
of them succeeded in passing up, others fell back
into the pool below, in consequence of not having
leaped with sufficient strength, or from having mis-
calculated the distance and angle at which to take
the leap. All the scenery about the falls of the
Shin is very beautiful : the steep and lofty hill
which comes down to the water's edge is covered
with wood, and, at this time of the year, was alive

VOL. I. e

50 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IV.

with singing birds of all kinds ; whilst the coo of
the wood-pigeon, and the shrill cry of the kestrel
as she hovered with quivering wings over our
heads, combined to please the eye and ear.

We were rather amused with the truly English
determination which was shown by a gentleman
(who, like ourselves, was admiring the falls) not to
enter into conversation, or indeed to admit that he
was aware of our presence. Perched on the ex-
treme point of rock overlooking the falls, for above
half an hour he turned his back most resolutely
towards us, as we sat immediately behind him.

It is part of the nature of Englishmen to look
upon all strangers as intruders, if not as enemies ;
and yet many a pleasant acquaintance and friend-
ship have I formed without any formal introduc-
tion, being, I am happy to say, un-English enough
not to be afraid of committing myself or of losing
caste by addressing a stranger. Throughout life
I always find that civility is met by civility,
wherever it may be bestowed. At the same time
nothing is easier than to put a stop to impertin-
ence should one meet with it.

En route to Lairg I called on Mr. Young, who
is manager of the Duke of Sutherland's fisheries
in the county. He received me with great civility,
and kindly gave me much curious and interesting

CH. IV. EXPERIMENTS RESPECTING SALMON. 51

information respecting the habits of salmon and
trout, having studied their natural history, and
having lived, as it were, amongst fish during his
whole life. Mr. Young has made such good use of
the opportunities which his position has afforded
him, that he has thrown considerable light on the
history of the inhabitants of an element in which
we cannot follow them. His patience in trying
experiments with the spawn and young of the
salmon has enabled him to explain many parts of
their history which had hitherto been obscure, or at
best but imperfectly understood. The encourage-
ment, too, which he has always met with from the
Duke, has still further enabled him to bring a
naturally acute and inquiring mind to bear on the
point in question. For some years he managed
(by forming artificial spawning-beds or ponds) to
have the ova under his immediate observation from
the hour of their being deposited to the time that
in the shape of " smolts " (I think that is the local
name) of four to six inches in length, the young
salmon go down to their mysterious feeding nur-
series in the depths of the ocean. Mr. Young
kindly showed me numerous specimens preserved
in spirits of wine of the gradual development and
growth of the fish from its egg state, when it looks
like a small pea, to its full maturity.

52 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IV.

Strange as it seems, it would certainly appear
from his observations that a salmon may be kept
for any length of time in a river without growing
beyond the weight of two to four ounces, and he
showed me specimens of salmon which, though of
perfect form and condition, did not exceed that
size ; whereas, had they been allowed to reach the
sea, they would at the same age have weighed
from six to ten pounds each. The growth of
salmon when in the sea is wonderful, it having
been indisputably proved that a salmon has grown
eleven pounds six ounces during the short period
of five weeks and two days : the fish having been
marked on its passage to the sea, was caught again
in the same river when ascending, after an interval
of that duration.

The destruction of salmon during their passage
to and residence in the sea must be wonderful, and
defies all calculation. Did all the fish which de-
scend as fry return as salmon the rivers would not
hold them. Their enemies are countless ; every fish
and every sea-fowl preys and fattens on them. At
the mouths of rivers, and indeed at every shallow
on their passage, thousands of gulls and other birds
prey upon the fry, while trout and eels are feeding
on them under water. As soon as they reach the
sea, too, fish of all kinds are ready to devour them.

CH. IV. EXPERIMENTS RESPECTING SALMON. 53

Mr. Young told me also that his young family
of salmon fry which he hatched and kept confined
in ponds connected with the river always become
perfectly tame, and the moment that he steps on
the plank laid across the ponds for the purpose
of feeding the fish from, they all flock round him
ready to dart at the food he puts in. In some of
the ponds he had put a number of small eels,
which soon grew in size and became as tame and
familiar as the young salmon. As the cold weather
came on the eels all disappeared, and he supposed
that they had managed to escape, led by their
instinct to take refuge in some deeper pools. How-
ever, one fine spring day, when he had long ceased
to think of his slimy pets, he happened to pass
over one of the planks, when he was delighted to
see them all issue out from under the stones ask-
ing for food, as if a day only, instead of many
weeks, had passed since he last had fed them.
Does not this most clearly prove that eels lie dor-
mant during cold weather ?

I asked Mr. Young if he could explain why at
the mouths of rivers, when angling, one always
catches such a variety of trout — a variety which
does not exist at some distance from the sea, each
and every stream having its own peculiar species.
His opinion, founded on practical experiment and

54 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IV.

long experience, coincided much with mine founded
on mere casual and unscientific observation, namely,
that the sea trout and river trout sometimes breed
with each other, thus forming a great variety of
shade and colour. He also states that the female
salmon will breed with a male trout, which he says
has been clearly proved by close observation, in the
following manner : — A pair of salmon, male and
female, being seen forming their spawning-bed to-
gether, the male salmon was killed with a spear and
taken out of the water. The female immediately
dropped down the stream to the next pool, and
after a certain interval returned with another male.
He having shared the same fate as his predecessor,
the female again went down to the pool, and
brought up another male. The same process was
gone on with of spearing the male, till the widowed
fish, finding no more of her own kind remaining
in the pool, returned at last accompanied by a large
river trout, who assisted her in forming the spawn-
ing-bed, etc., with the same assiduity that he would
have used had she been a trout instead of a salmon ;
the female appearing to be determined that her ova
should not be left in the gravel without being fer-
tilised by the male, thus taking the trout as a pis
allcr, and carrying out the proverb — " si on n'a
pas ce qu'on aime, il faut aimer ce qu'on a."

CH. IV. SPAWNING-BEDS OF SALMON. 55

The process of preparing the spawning-beds
is curious. The two fish come up together to a
convenient place, shallow and gravelly. Here
they commence digging a trench across the stream,
sometimes making it several inches deep. In this
the female deposits her eggs or ova ; and she hav-
ing left the bed, the male takes her place, and
deposits his spawn on the ova of the female. The
difference may be perhaps easily exemplified by
the soft and hard roe of a herring; the former
being that of the male, and without this the hard
roe or ova of the female fish would be barren.
When the male has performed his share of the
work, they both make a fresh trench immediately
above the former one, thus covering up the spawn
in the first trench with the gravel taken out of the
second : the same process is repeated till the whole
of their spawn is deposited, when the fish gradu-
ally work their way down to the salt water to
recruit their lost strength and energy.

The spawn is thus left to be hatched in due time,
but is sometimes destroyed by floods, which bury it
too deep, or sweep it entirely away ; at other times
it is destroyed by want of water, a dry season reduc-
ing the river to so small a size as to leave the beds
exposed to the air. The time required to hatch
the eggs depends much on the state of the weather;

56 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IV.

in warm seasons they are hatched much quicker
than in cold. The details I have here given are
very imperfect; but perhaps they may induce
those interested in the subject to read a little
work published by Mr. Young, the result of his
observations and experience for many years.

It is a common opinion that no food is ever
found in the stomach of a salmon ; but this is quite
erroneous. On first entering the rivers they are
often perfectly gorged with small eels ; fry and
even good-sized herring are constantly found in
them ; showing that the salmon is as voracious a
fish as his cousin the trout. When in fresh water
they do not seem to have the same voracity. That
they do feed on small fish, etc., however, in lake
and river, cannot be doubted, as we know that
trolling with parr is as efficient a way of killing
salmon in several waters as fly-fishing, though not
so generally practised : nay, many a salmon dies
an ignoble death from taking a worm.

This year I was fishing on a river in the north of
Scotland, near a town where there was plenty of
anglers, young and old, good and bad. There was
one old piscator, who was most assiduous in his at-
tention to the river, and whom I have seen for hours
together at one small pool, changing his bait from
fly to worm and from worm to fly, as he fancied

CH. IV. CURLEWS AND GOLDEN PLOVERS. 57

the inclinations of the fish might be turned at the
moment. One day we saw him in his usual posi-
tion at the head of a rocky pool, and found that
he had risen a salmon. After tempting the fish
with every fly contained in an old bible, which
served as a fishing-book, without success, he told
us, as we greeted him in passing, that he would
have the fish before dark : and sure enough, late
in the evening, while taking a stroll up the river,
we met the old gentleman coming home, and after
a little coquetry on the subject, he produced the
salmon, wrapped up in a snuffy pocket handker-
chief and crammed into his trousers, where he
carried it in order to avoid notoriety on the subject.
Not having permission, I fancy, to kill salmon in
the river, he had killed the fish with a worm late
in the evening, after everything else had failed.

The first few miles of the drive from Lairg to
Aultnaharrow we skirt the edge of Loch Shin,
passing through a beautiful wood of birch, at this
season (June) full of singing-birds, wood-pigeons,
etc. Beyond this we pass for many miles through
a desolate and dreary-looking range of hill ground
— the more desolate-looking too from the ground
being covered with a kind of coarse grass, instead
of the rich brown red of the heather. The number
of curlews and golden plovers is very great all

58 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IV.

along this grassy tract of country. The plovers are
very tame, running along the road in front of the
horse, and at last only flying a few yards to some
higher hillock or stone, where they stop watching
us till we pass. These birds have their nests rather
high up on the hills : their eggs are peculiarly large
and beautifully marked, the prevailing colour being
a brown, shaded and spotted with darker markings
of a brownish-green colour. It is very difficult,
however, to describe the eggs of many of these
birds, no two of them being exactly alike. The
curlews are far more shy and wary, and as long as
we are within sight they keep up a loud unceasing
cry of alarm, wheeling round and round, but gen-
erally at a tolerably respectful distance. I saw
some young curlews on the ground, and got out to
examine them ; they are curious, long-legged, top-
heavy, little fellows, and when pursued seemed to
trip themselves up in their hurry, and to tumble
head foremost into every hole in their way. The
bill of the young bird is as short as that of a golden
plover. When I held it in my hand to examine
the curious plumage, or rather down, which covered
it, the little bird looked up at me with its great
dark prominent eye with such an expression of
confidence and curiosity, that had I been the most
determined collector of specimens of birds, I could

CH. IV. RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. 59

not have refrained from putting him carefully-
down on the ground again : when I did so he ran
up to the top of a little grassy hillock, and looked
round for his screaming parents, who, at a safe
distance, were wheeling with a most wonderful
outcry round the head of my terrier.

One cannot understand why a curlew's bill
should be curved in the curious manner in which
it is. The end of the bill is, like that of a wood-
cock, furnished with a set of delicate nerves to
enable it to feel its food under the ground. In
those parts of the country where curlews are num-
erous, the moist turnip fields are generally bored
all over by them. I tried for trout in Loch Naver
(close to the inn at Aultnaharrow), and caught
some fine and excellent fish for our supper.

In the swampy ground near the west end of the
lake a vast number of birds seem to breed. Snipes,
curlews, redshanks, plovers, etc. etc., all keep up a
constant cry of alarm on any intrusion into their
dominion. While I was fishing Mr. Dunbar called
my attention to two beautiful little birds near the
edge of the water, which he pronounced to be the
red-necked phalarope. Not having any specimens
in his collection, he went to the inn for a gun, while
I sat down to watch them. The red-necked phala-
rope is certainly the most beautiful little wader of

60 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IV.

my acquaintance. There were a pair of them, male
and female, feeding near the loch, in a little pool
which was covered with weeds of different kinds.
Nothing could be more graceful than the movements
of these two little birds as they swam about in
search of insects, etc. Sometimes they ran lightly
on the broad leaves of the water-lily, which served
them for a raft and entirely kept them out of the
water. Though not exactly web-footed, the phala-
rope swims with the greatest ease. The attachment
of these two birds to each other seemed very great :
whenever in their search for food they wandered so
far apart as to be hidden by the intervening weeds,
the male bird stopped feeding suddenly, and, look-
ing round, uttered a low and musical call of inquiry,
which was immediately answered by the female
in a different note, but perfectly expressive of her
answer, which one might suppose to be to the pur-
port that she was at hand and quite safe : on hear-
ing her the male immediately recommenced feeding,
but at the same time making his way towards her ;
she also flew to meet him : they then joined com-
pany for a moment or two, and after a few little
notes of endearment, turned off again in different
directions. This scene was repeated a dozen times
while I was watching them. They seemed to have
not the slightest fear of me, for frequently they

CH. IV. WIDGEON ON LOCH NAVER. 61

came within a yard of where I was sitting, and,
after looking up, they continued catching the
small water-insects, etc., on the weeds without
minding my presence in the least.

After having apparently exhausted the food in
one pool, on a signal from the male they suddenly
both took wing, and flew away to a fresh feeding-
place two or three hundred yards off, where we
afterwards found them. Though we could not dis-
cover their nest, I have no doubt that they had eggs
very near the spot where we saw them. Indeed,
on dissecting the female we found two eggs in her,
nearly full-sized, so that probably she had already
deposited the other two, which would have made
her number complete. I find no account of this
bird breeding on the mainland of Scotland.

A great many widgeon breed about Loch Naver.
I saw several drakes sitting on the points of grass
running out into the lake, shining brightly in their
beautiful and variegated summer dress. I also
came upon an old duck-widgeon, who kept flutter-
ing round my feet. On looking closely I found
about seven young widgeon two or three days old,
very like wild-ducks of the same age, but having,
instead of the green colour of the young mallard,
a kind of reddish brown tinge over the whole of
their down. They soon scuttled away into the

62 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IV.

lake, and we presently saw them swimming far out
with the old bird. The number of young redshanks,
peewits, etc., seemed very great. The terrier found
them everywhere. The redshank has a merry and
not unmusical note as he flies round and round
with great rapidity on his nest being approached.
I saw no greenshanks about Loch Naver, but
plenty of them about the smaller and more lonely
rushy lakes on the hills. The note of the green-
shank is musical, and not quite so shrill as that
of the redshank. Its flight, too, is different, mak-
ing longer strokes with the wing ; it darts with
sudden jerks through the air, somewhat in the
manner of a dragon-fly ; sometimes hovering, and
then darting downwards with great quickness.
The nest of the greenshank is particularly difficult
to find. I never found one myself, and have only
once heard of its having been discovered. There is
a peculiarity about the egg which, though difficult
to describe, immediately strikes the observer, if he
is at all learned in birds' eggs. The prevailing-
colour is olive-green. The shell seems of a fine
texture, and the spots are small, but numerous.

A forester brought me four eggs, which he said
were those of the jack snipe. Though I have
every reason for thinking that he would not wil-
fully have deceived me, I suspect that he was mis-

CH. IV.

SNIPE S EGGS.

63

taken in the bird, and that the action of the hen
snipe when disturbed from her nest being unlike
her usual flight, made him believe her to be the
jack snipe instead of the common one. The eggs
were certainly small for a snipe, but not smaller
than I have sometimes seen them. I have never
read any account of the jack snipe breeding in
Scotland that I considered well authenticated.
There is every probability that a few birds, un-
equal to the long flight of their migration, may
remain in this country during the summer. But
notwithstanding the eager search made for the
nest by egg collectors, it has never yet been found
in Scotland. I heard that the jack snipe had been
seen breeding near Tongue, but the gamekeeper
there says that this is not the case, and that pro-
bably the dunlin was mistaken for that bird.

64 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. V.

CHAPTEE V.

Length of Day — Sedge Warbler— Different Birds near Loch
Naver— Ben Cleebrick— Rain— Loch Maddie— Frost— Ben
Laighal— Foxes— Sheep Killing— Catching Wild-ducks —
Peregrine Falcon ; Manner of catching their Young— Golden
Eagles— Tongue— Fine Scenery of Bay of Tongue and
Islands — Wild-cat — Seals.

The nights at this season are most enjoyable ; in
fact, there is no darkness. I went out of the inn
at midnight, and was much amused at hearing
the different cries of the birds. Close to the door
is a small enclosed clump of larch, where the grass
and weeds are very high and rank. In this little
patch it seems that a sedge warbler had made
her nest. All day long had the male bird been
singing to his mate, and now at midnight he was
still uttering unceasingly his merry note ; I never
met with so indefatigable a songster; night or
day he seemed never to weary.

Towards the loch a constant tumult was kept up
amongst the waders and water-fowl. High in the
air was heard the common snipe, earning his Gaelic
name of " air goat " by his incessant bleating cry ;
while redshanks, curlews, golden plovers, and pee-
wits, all seemed to be as lively as if it had been

CH. V. BEN CLEEBRICK. 65

noon instead of midnight ; occasionally, too, both
widgeon and teal were heard to whistle each after
its own peculiar fashion ; and the quack of the
common mallard was also constant. Now and
then a note expressive of alarm was uttered by
some bird, and immediately a dead silence was
kept by the whole community for a few moments ;
but this was soon succeeded by a greater noise
than ever, particularly amongst the peewits, which
seemed by their cries to be darting about the head
of some intruder or enemy. Probably on these
occasions a fox, wild-cat, or owl had made his
appearance amongst them in search of tender food
for his own young ravening brood.

Though I had to rise very early, I betook my-
self to bed with great regret, and left the window
open in order to hear the serenade of the sedge
warbler to the last moment of being awake.

Ben Cleebrick, the highest hill (or nearly so) in

Sutherland, is immediately in front of the inn; and

the forester, after looking at me from head to foot,

pronounced his dictum that he thought I should

get to the top in two hours or so ; at any rate,

that he could do it in that time. Notwithstanding

the threatening look of the mist on its summit, I

started, hoping to see some ptarmigan nests amongst

the loose stones near the top. Dunbar warned
vol. I. F

66 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. V.

me that we should not succeed in reaching the
summit, owing to the state of the weather ; and
he was correct ; for, although there was an occa-
sional clearing away of the clouds, when we were
about half-way up there commenced such a deter-
mined and heavy torrent of rain that we had to
give in ; the whole mountain, too, was enveloped
in a cloud like a wet blanket, impenetrable to the
sight. For a long time we sat down under my
plaid, which kept us tolerably dry (Dunbar, myself,
and the dog) ; with nothing else to enliven us except
watching the curious antics of two ravens on a great
lump of rock in front of us. At last, in despair,
we made our way home as quickly as we could,
splashing through the rain-water which had con-
verted the whole hill-side into pools. Near the
loch-side, amongst the birch-trees, I saw a great
many red-poles and other small birds.

From Aultnaharrow we drove again to Loch
Maddie, where I caught some fine trout. We
saw a few Gray lag geese, and found the gray
crows again tenanting the nests which we had
attacked three or four weeks ago. Of course I
smashed every egg and killed every crow that
came within my reach.

On the 10 th of June the frost was so severe
in Strath Naver that it cut down all the potatoes

CH. V. BEN LAIGHAL — FOXES. 67

to the ground, and even the ferns and some other
wild plants near the waterside were entirely
-blackened. A hard white frost at this season is
always supposed to be followed by heavy rain,
and the saying was this time quite correct.

On our road to Tongue the following day I
stopped for an hour or two about Loch Laighal,
one of the most beautiful of the lakes in Suther-
land. Ben Laighal is a fine and picturesque
mountain, and of great extent. We learned at a
shepherd's house that the fox-hunter of that district
had been up on the mountain since three o'clock in
pursuit of some foxes who had established them-
selves in the rocky corries near the summit, and
had commenced killing the old sheep. It is not
the general custom of foxes to destroy the old and
full-grown sheep where lambs are plentiful ; but
a colony or pair of foxes having once commenced
this habit, the mischief and havoc which they
commit are beyond calculation, more particularly
as they seldom tear or eat much of so large an
animal, but feed on the blood. According to the
accounts of the shepherds the foxes of Ben Laighal
are very prone to this kind of prey, and kill the
old sheep in preference to lambs or game.

The foxes in the Highland districts must fre-
quently be put to many shifts for their living, and

68 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. V.

no doubt become proportionally cunning. To keep
himself in the fine and sleek condition in which
a fox always is, many a trick and ruse de guerre
of surpassing cleverness must be practised. The
stories of their manoeuvres to catch animals are
endless ; and, though many of them would be
amusing enough, I do not like quoting as facts
incidents of this kind, the authenticity of which I
cannot vouch for, however much I may believe
them to be true, and I must confess to being very
credulous on this point. I have been assured by a
person, not given at all to exaggerate nor easily
deceived, that he once witnessed the following
trick : Very early one morning he saw a fox eyeing
most wistfully a number of wild-ducks feeding in
the rushy end of a Highland lake. After due con-
sideration, the fox, going to windward of the ducks,
put afloat in the loch several bunches of dead rushes
or grass, which floated down amongst the ducks
without causing the least alarm. After watching
the effects of his preliminary fleet for a short time,
the fox, taking a good-sized mouthful of grass in his
jaws, launched himself into the water as quietly as
possible, having nothing but the tips of his ears and
nose above water. In this way he drifted down
amongst the ducks, and made booty of a fine mal-
lard. Though this story seems extraordinary, it

CH. V. FOXES. 69

must be remembered that the fox manages to cap-
ture wild-ducks, wood-pigeons, hares, and number-
less other animals, sufficient to keep himself and
family ; and it is self-evident that in doing so he
must practise many a trick and manoeuvre that
would seem most improbable if related, and quite
beyond the instinct of animals. I have seen one
in confinement lay out part of his food just within
reach of his chain, in order to attract the tame ducks
and chickens about the yard, and then, having con-
cealed himself in his kennel, wait in an attitude
ready to spring out till some duck or fowl came
to his bait, which he immediately pounced upon.
Those, too, who have trapped foxes can tell of the
extreme cunning and sagacity displayed by them
in avoiding danger. In fact, altogether, a fox in
a state of nature is as interesting an animal as he
is beautiful, and nothing can exceed the grace and
agility of his movements when he is hunting or
playing unobserved, as he fancies, by his enemy
man. It has happened to me frequently to have
opportunities of watching a fox, and I have always
been unwilling to put a stop to my amusement by
shooting him, which, in a country where hounds
cannot be kept, one feels bound to do, as a punish-
ment for the endless mischief which he commits.
On the east or north-east side of Loch Laighal

70 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. V.

there is a very beautiful hill covered with wood
to a considerable height, and surmounted by a
curiously-formed steep cliff — the very place for
an eagle's nest : I was told that a nest had been
destroyed there last year.

The whole view of Ben Laighal is magnificent,
and in driving round it we had the advantage
of seeing it on every side. Towards the loch the
mountain slopes down, covered with bright green
herbage ; but to the north and west nothing can
surpass the savage grandeur of its rocky precipices.
Viewed from Tongue, Ben Laighal is, I think, the
most magnificent-looking mountain in Sutherland-
shire. Our attention was attracted by the cries
of the peregrine falcon, and we saw the two birds
flying about a high rock. Having hailed a shep-
herd's boy, we learned where the nest was, and
under his guidance climbed up the mountain —
and a good steep climb it was — till we got within
a few yards of the nest ; so near, indeed, did we
reach,! that with two joints of my fishing-rod I
could just touch the young birds, who were sitting
eyeing us boldly and fearlessly on a ledge of rock
where the nest was placed. When, however, we
attempted to push them out of the nest, they
retired farther in, where they were in tolerable
securitv. All the time we were there the old

CH. V. PEREGRINE FALCONS — GOLDEN EAGLES. 71

birds Hew screaming over our heads. I did not
think of a plan that is adopted sometimes to cap-
ture young peregrine falcons when the nest can-
not be reached without danger. It is very simple,
and succeeds with all the courageous kinds of
hawks. A person having reached the top of the
rock immediately above the nest, ties a rough blue
bonnet, or some similar substance, to a bundle of
heather the size of a man's head ; then dropping
this attached to a rope upon the nest, the young
falcons, instead of being frightened, immediately
attack it, and, sticking their talons into the cap,
hold on courageously and determinedly till they
are dragged up to the top of the cliff. Even then
it is sometimes necessary to cut the cap to pieces
before they will relinquish their hold. In this
way the young birds are captured without risk to
the capturer or injury to themselves. Indeed, on
the present occasion I was not very anxious to
get them, as they would probably only have been
destroyed in travelling.

Between Loch Laighal and Tongue, on driving
round the corner of a rock, we suddenly came upon
two golden eagles who were hunting close to the
road. They were nearly within shot of us ; so,
leaving the horse and carriage to take care of them-
selves, we jumped out, gun in hand, to try to get

72 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. V.

shots at them. Two or three times the birds swooped
down, and one of them carried off some bird, prob-
ably a grouse, taking it far away round the cliffs of
Ben Laighal. The other eagle then made a sudden
swoop down to the ground, within a hundred yards
of us, but just behind a small hillock ; we ran to
the place, confident of getting the bird, but arrived
just in time to see the eagle carrying off its prey,
whatever it was, in the same direction as that taken
by its mate, in all probability straight to the nest.

Eeaching the brow of a hill, we came in full
view of the fine plantations and bay of Tongue.
Beautiful and refreshing to the eye were the woods
and cultivated fields of Tongue, bursting into view
suddenly as they did, after some days' travelling
through the rugged wilds of the interior of Suther-
land. The beautiful bay was as smooth as glass,
the timber growing to the water's edge ; and the
whole scene was made still more striking by the
abrupt and precipitous outline of the headlands
both of the mainland and the islands at the
mouth of the Kyle. It is worth a journey of
many miles to see the Kyle of Tongue alone.

Tongue House, formerly the residence of Lord
Eeay, the then proprietor of a magnificent range of
mountain property, is one of the most beautiful
places of the sort that I ever saw. The house itself

CH. V. KYLE OF TONGUE — FINE SCENERY. 73

is irregular, but picturesque; and the gardens,
overlooking the sea, are warm, sheltered, and most
enjoyable in every respect. The fruit, flowers, and
vegetables were growing with as much luxuriance,
and were nearly as forward as I should have expected
to have seen had they been situated in the southern
instead of the northern extremity of the island ;
while the fine avenues and groves of elm and other
trees would do credit to any place in England.
All this, combined with the wild outline of rocks
and cliffs which nearly surround the bay, and the
magnificent precipices of Ben Laighal — all this
combined, I say, formed a coup d'ceil, which,
though it may be equalled, can scarcely be sur-
passed in any country. I understood from Mr.
Horsburgh, the Duke of Sutherland's factor in
this district, that his Grace contemplates making
a harbour within the Kyle of Tongue.

The keeper pointed out to me from near the
inn the sites of two eagles' nests in the rocks of
Ben Laighal, and a more appropriate or fitting
locale for eyries I never saw.

At the entrance to the bay are some islands — one
named Eoan Island, or the Seal Island ; and the
others are called the Piabbit Islands, from being
tenanted by numbers of these animals. The rabbits,
however, must there be of little use, excepting as

74 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. V.

food to birds of prey. In the winter the eagles and
hawks feed greatly upon them. The eider-ducks
also breed on these islands, and are so tame when
nesting that they allow themselves to be lifted off
their nest, and the down of which it is formed to be
taken away without deserting it. I saw a few eider-
ducks swimming about in the bay, amongst num-
erous cormorants and other birds. The rocks along
the coast are inhabited by a great number of wild-
cats, otters, etc., who live here in tolerable peace,
as the game is not much looked after excepting in
particular localities. Indeed, the ground near the
coast here is not well adapted for grouse. The
keeper showed me at his house an immense cat,
which he said was bred between a tame and a wild
cat ; and though such an occurrence is very rare,
I am sure that he was correct in this instance.
The animal showed certain peculiarities of his wild
father's race, in the size and shape of his head, the
shortness and roughness of his tail ; and in other
points had a likeness to the wild-cat, which, though
difficult to explain, was unmistakable. I have
seen this resemblance to both parents in mules of
different kinds, such as a mule between blackcock
and pheasant, or pheasant and common fowl, in all
winch birds something catches an accustomed eye
which immediately points out what the parents

CH. V. WILD- CAT. 75

were. The cat, too, belonging to Eoss, the keeper
at Tongue, had peculiar wildness and antipathy to
strangers, not suffering himself to be caressed, or
indeed scarcely to be looked at, by any one except-
ing the keeper's wife, for whom the animal showed
great attachment. When I entered the house he
bolted out, and it was with difficulty that Mrs.
Eoss caught him ; and when she brought him in
again in her arms, the animal showed the greatest
fear of and animosity to me, and was constantly
endeavouring to escape.

It was delightful to hear in the plantations at
Tongue the coo of the wood-pigeon and the songs
of thrush, siskin, etc. etc. The trees seemed to be
full of birds, most of which, to reach these woods,
must have wandered over many miles of ground
very uncongenial to their habits and tastes. In-
deed it is difficult to understand how many of the
birds, such as the golden-crested wren, the little
blue titmouse, etc., could ever have found their
way here. The landrails too seemed to be num-
berless ; in every patch of corn they were calling
and answering each other in such quantities, that
it was impossible to tell how many were croaking
at once. I also heard two or three goatsuckers
{Caprimulgus) making their whirring noise about
the stone walls and belts of plantations. All

76

TOUR IN SUTHERLAND.

CH. V.

night the sedge-warbler was cheering his mate
with his sweet and constant song.

I saw some seals playing the most extraordinary
gambols in the smooth water. The sea was as
calm as possible, and like a mirror everywhere,
excepting where these animals were swimming
after each other in a circle, so rapidly that their
track resembled a complete whirlpool. Occasion-
ally they lifted themselves perpendicularly up in
the water, showing half their bodies, and looking as
like the representation of a mermaid as possible.

I should have liked to prolong my stay had it
been in my power to do so, as there is much to
interest the visitor, both in the varied and magni-
ficent scenery of land and water, and also in the
numerous wild animals, common enough here, but
rare in the more southern parts of the country.

II I

;tv-".

»

View of Whiten Head.

Vol. i. p. 77-]

CH. VI. FERRY FROM TONGUE. 77

CHAPTEK VI.

Ferry from Tongue— Difficulties of our Start— Seals— Shep-
herds, etc. — Emigration — Heilam Inn — Storm — River Hope
— Drive to Durness — Cave — Rock Pigeons — Inn at Rhi-
connich — Search for Osprey's Nest — Swimming to Nest —
Loch of the Eagle Fisher— Stalking the Osprey — Row up
the Bay — Loss of Fishing Line— Scowrie— Island of Handa
— Innumerable Birds, etc.

Our start from Tongue for Durness was amusing,
though not without difficulty. We had to cross a
ferry immediately below the inn ; but on going to
the ferry-house and raising the flag that signified
the want of a large ferry-boat (the boats being on
the opposite side of the bay), we after some delay
were answered by the arrival of a small sailing-
boat, far too narrow to take over either horse or
carriage. On making inquiry of the ferryman, he
told us that the large boat was at present out of
the water and under repair, but that if we could
wait ten clays or a fortnight it might be ready.
This did not sound promising ; but I settled the
difficulty by sending the horse to a point, from
which a boy was to bring him across a part of the
sands fordable at low water. We then took the
boat off the wheels, which we managed to stow

78 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

away in the small ferry-boat, and taking our own
boat in tow, we sailed across with a good breeze,
which carried us well over the bay. In one part
the current of the ebbing tide is very strong.

"While waiting for the horse's arrival I amused
myself by watching through my glass the singular
and awkward-looking antics and gambols of a large
herd of seals, who were playing and resting upon a
sandbank in the middle of the bay. It is curious
to see with what activity these unwieldy-looking
fellows move themselves about on the sand, ill
adapted as they appear for locomotion on the land.
The cry of the seal is wild and mournful, difficult
to describe, but something between the mew of a
cat and the howl of a dog ; a most unpleasant sound
it is, though it sometimes harmonises sufficiently
well with the wild scenery surrounding them.

Some thirty miles out at sea opposite this part of
the coast is an island, or range of rocks. Exposed to
all the violence of the breakers of the Northern Sea,
it is difficult to land on ; but once or twice a year a
crew of fishermen go off to it in a strong boat, and
usually manage to get about a hundred seals, the oil
and skins of which repay them well for their labour.

Blue rock pigeons live in all the caves on this
coast, and are to be seen flitting to and fro from
morning to night.

CH. VI. HOPE RIVER. 79

For some distance after crossing the Tongue ferry
the road is dreary and bleak, passing over a brown
and wet tract of mossy ground, and for several
miles we continued ascending. The wind and
rain were incessant and very heavy. Having sur-
mounted the highest ridge, we descended the hill
to the Hope river, which is crossed by what is
called a chain -boat; that is, we drive upon a
wooden platform without taking the horse out of
the carriage. The platform then, with all upon
it, is hauled across the river by means of a chain
and windlass. The glen through which the river
Hope runs is very beautifully shut in by its wooded
banks ; and the gray mountains offering a new
point of interest at every turn of the road, give
never-ceasing pleasure and excitement. Here we
continually saw eagles and other rare birds. A
shepherd told us that the lambs were killed every
day by eagles ; but he seemed to know little, and
to care less, about the breeding-place of the birds.
It is nearly impossible to get a direct or truthlike
answer from many of the Highlanders ; for though
intelligent enough, they seem to have a kind of
suspicious dislike to giving information.

One thing particularly struck me in this part of
the country. Depending on the Duke of Suther-
land's well-known kindness and liberality, the lower

80 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

class of inhabitants take but little trouble towards
earning their own livelihood. At whatever hour
of the day you go into a cottage you find the
whole family idling at home over the peat-fire.
The husband appears never to employ himself in
any way beyond smoking, taking snuff, or chewing
tobacco ; the women doing the same, or at the
utmost watching the boiling of a pot of potatoes ;
while the children are nine times out of ten crawling
listlessly about or playing with the ashes of the fire.
The Duke, having tried every plan that phil-
anthropy and reason could suggest, has now suc-
ceeded in opening their eyes to the advantage of
emigrating, and at a great expense sends numbers
yearly to Canada, where these very people, who at
home, in spite of every effort and encouragement,
dras on a life useless to themselves and burthensome
to others, when once settled in their new country,
put their shoulder to the wheel, and rapidly become
most independent and comfortable ; and instead of
seeing their children grow up in the midst of self-
imposed squalid misery, they see them become daily
more prosperous and thriving. Certainly, in this
rocky and sterile part of the country, it is difficult
for a cottager to advance himself. The soil is not
adapted for a numerous population; there is nothing
to feed mankind on : all or the greatest part of the

CH. VI. HEILAM INN — LOCH ERRIBOLL. 81

necessary grain must be imported from the low land ;
and the low-land farmers, finding a better price and
better customers elsewhere, naturally send their pro-
duce to the best market. This mountainous country
is only fit for sheep, and sheep-farming is by far the
best use to put it to. The bays are certainly full
offish; but it seems nearly impossible to make good
fishermen of hill-men, often as it has been tried.
The north-west Highlanders, having found out from
their friends the great advantages derived from
emigration, are now anxious to take advantage of
the Duke's liberal system of sending them out.

To continue our journey. "We were obliged at
last to make for a small inn called Heilam, on the
shore of Loch Emboli ; and glad enough were we
to get there, for it blew a perfect gale, and the
rain was unceasing. Though the outside of the
house looked unpromising, we found the interior
clean enough, the people respectable, and plenty
of fresh herrings and new-laid eggs. So, the
storm not abating, we determined to take up our
quarters there for the night.

Loch Emboli is an excellent harbour of refuge
during gales from the north and north-east. The
anchorage is good and the water deep ; so that no
storm comes on from that quarter without some
vessels coming in for shelter. I went out to the

vol. i. G

82 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. OH. VI.

leeward of the rocks of the peninsula on which the
inn is built, and, accompanied by Fred, sat some
time watching several vessels come in, driving like
leaves before the storm ; and it was a relief to my
mind as each vessel in her turn swung round to her
anchor, having weathered the head of the peninsula
and entered the sheltered bay formed by the land
on which the inn stands, where they rode in perfect
safety in tolerably smooth water. Notwithstanding
a stream which I found in the morning running
through my bedroom, I slept soundly enough.
The wind and rain had somewhat abated, and I
walked across the country towards a fine headland,
some six or eight miles off, called Whiten Head.
The rain coming on again obliged me to return
without quite reaching it. The entire coast here
is very grand and steep, exposed to the whole
force of the ocean : the rocks are cut up and
weather-beaten to a degree unknown in more
southern or more sheltered countries.

In the course of my walk I came to the mouth of
the river Hope, which runs into the sea halfway
between Heilam and Whiten Head. The course of
the river is very picturesque, forming as it does a
green glen covered with grass and foliage in the
midst of the dreary gray country which surrounds
it. I am told that a great number of salmon ascend

CH. VI. WHITEN HEAD. 83

into Loch Hope when the river is tolerably high.
In a corner sheltered by rocks and birch-covered
banks is a solitary hut, where Mr. Hogarth's fisher-
men live during the fishing season, to be at hand
to attend to the nets laid in the sea at the mouth of
the river. This hut was on the other side of the
stream, which was then much swollen ; but a fisher-
man immediately came out and crossed in a boat
to where I was standing: it seeming quite an agree-
able surprise to him to have a human being to
speak to in that lonely spot. He complained of
the mischief done to his nets by seals ; and also said
that great numbers of otters were living about the
rocks near the river. The number of cormorants
was very great ; on firing off my gun on the top
of the rocks along the coast they flew out from
beneath my feet in scores. These birds and rock-
pigeons seemed the principal inhabitants of the
cliffs, with the exception of some pairs of ravens
and hooded crows. On Whiten Head different sea-
fowl and a pair of eagles breed every year. The
people say that the nest of the latter is quite inac-
cessible. The grouse seem nearly extinct about
this district, owing to the number of their enemies,
in the shape of winged and ground vermin. I was
delighted, however, with the song of the ring-ousel,
which was to be heard from every grove and clump

84 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

of birch. Notwithstanding the peregrines and
crows too, the golden plover is in great abundance.

I found on the little promontory of Heilam a
number of wild-flowers growing amongst the short
grass, one or two of which were new to me. Though
I am sorry to say that I am no botanist, I seldom
pass a wild-flower without making its acquaintance.

The next day our drive was to Durness. The
mountains at the head of Loch Emboli are as
wild as can well be imagined ; consisting of irreg-
ular piles of gray rocks, thrown together in every
kind of confusion. On the west of the loch there
is a long slope of brown hill, down the side of
which run innumerable small streams of the
brightest water. The rain of the day before made
them appear to great advantage, as they were all
seen conspicuously from the opposite side of the
bay, glittering in the gleams of sunshine, which
occasionally broke through the remains of the
storm. I was glad to get back to Durness after
three or four wreeks' absence, as the scenery is magni-
ficent, the inn comfortable, and the landlady, Mrs.
Eoss, and her servants, most attentive, kind, and
obliging. A pleasanter sojourn for botanist, natur-
alist, or lover of romantic scenery I do not know.

There is a very remarkable cavern close to Dur-
ness : a burn of good size disappears underground,

(JIL VI. KOCK-PIGEONS. 85

and is seen again issuing from the rocks within
this cavern, through which it runs for a short
distance till it empties itself into the sea.

Numbers of the common house martin were fly-
ing about the cave, and building their nests in the
niches of the rocks. In some of the dark, damp
corners, where there seems to be a constant dripping
from the roof, were clusters of bright green ferns,
and other plants, in great variety. On some parts
of the shore the rocks are quite perpendicular for
a great height — I should say about three hundred
feet; in others they are worn into numerous fantastic
shapes and caverns by the action of the waves.

Although the wind had now fallen, the swell
was tremendous, dashing the spray half-way up
the rocks. It was a curious sight to see the
rock-pigeons flying rapidly into the caves, some-
times dashing like lightning through the very
spray of the breakers, scarcely topping the crests
of the waves, which roared and raged through the
narrow caverns where these beautiful birds breed.
The rock-pigeons were very numerous here, and
constantly flying between their wild but secure
breeding-places and the small fields about Durness.
I shot a few of them, and found their crops full
of green food, such as clover, the leaves of the oat,
etc. ; a number of small shells were also in the

86 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

crop of every bird. The rock-pigeon is a very
beautifully-shaped little bird, rather smaller and
shorter than the common house-pigeon, of which
it is plainly the original stock. They seem very
restless, seldom remaining long in one field, but
constantly rising and flitting away to some other
feeding ground, with an uncertain kind of flight ;
but when alarmed, or going straight home, they fly
with very great rapidity. They are easily tamed
when caught young. The eggs seem very diffi-
cult to get at ; nothing but a ladder will enable a
person to reach them, and it is almost impossible
either to procure such a ladder, or, if procured, to
carry it to the caverns where they breed.

There were two or three beautiful wild-flowers
near Durness which I had not seen before. They
grew on the short grass that covers the summit of
the cliffs. I picked up, while wandering about
there, some of the small land shells with yellow
and black stripes (Helix nemoralis), exactly similar
to those which, when a child, I used to find on
the South Downs, near Brighton. The rocky head-
lands jutting into the sea near Durness are very
bold and abrupt. While looking for rock-pigeons I
saw a few of the red-legged crow, or Cornish chough,
passing from rock to rock, and busily employed
about the broken stones searching for food.

CH. VI. RHICONNICH. 87

From Durness to Khiconnich is about fourteen
miles of hilly road, passing through the same
description of rocky country, abounding in wild-
cats, martens, and other animals of prey. There
is a loch about two miles from Durness where I
was told that char are very plentiful. All the
lochs abound in excellent trout.

We reached Khiconnich, a tolerable inn, but
certainly not so well kept as many others in Suther-
landshire, at eleven o'clock, and immediately started
for a lake some two or three miles off, where the
osprey was said to build. The way to it was far
too rocky and steep to take the boat, so we only
took my swimming belt, as Dunbar offered to
swim out to the nest, if not too far from the shore.
We had a very rough walk of the longest two
miles that I ever met with. Our route was over
a continuous range of rocky ground — so broken
that we seldom found a flat place to put our feet
on. We did not find the right lake immediately,
but at last saw from a height a larger piece of
water than any we had hitherto passed, and at
some two hundred yards from the shore there was
the conical-shaped rock, which the osprey always
seems to choose for her nesting place.

On examining the rock with the glass we im-
mediately saw the nest, and the white head of the

88 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

bird in the middle of it. Our troubles were in-
stantly forgotten, and although rather fagged before,
we made our way over the rocks with new-found
vigour. The unwillingness of the old bird to
leave the nest showed that she had young ones.
While Dunbar prepared to take the water I went
round to watch for a shot at the old bird. I pre-
sently saw nothing but my fellow-traveller's head,
as he swam gallantly out to the rock: the old
osprey flew in wide circles round and round, at a
considerable height, screaming loudly at the un-
expected intrusion on her domain ; sometimes she
swooped half-way down to the water, but still
cautiously keeping at a safe distance. Before
many minutes had elapsed we saw the male bird
sailing high in the air, straight to the loch ; on
hearing the cries of his mate he seemed to quicken
his flight, and soon joined her, carrying a trout in
his talons. The two birds then sailed round and
round the water with loud cries. When they saw
Dunbar perched on their hitherto unassailed rock,
and looking like a statue on a pedestal, their ex-
citement became greater and greater; the male
dropped his trout, and they both dashed wildly to
and fro, sometimes at a great height, and sometimes
taking a rapid circuit of the lake, within half a gun-
shot of the water. The next thing I saw was my

CH. VI. osprey's nest. 89

adventurous companion striking out for the shore,
with his cap in his teeth. In the nest he found
a half-grown young bird and an unhatched egg,
both of which he brought safely to land. He re-
mained on the spot to try to shoot one of the old
birds, while I fished for an hour down a stream
that ran from the loch towards the inn. I think
it was the most rugged and rocky that I ever
threw a fly on, but though it was difficult to
imagine where trout could lie in it, I managed to
half fill my basket with very nice-looking fish.

After resting ourselves for an hour or so, we
again left the inn to look for another osprey's nest
in the contrary direction. We could get but very
vague information as to the exact point of the com-
pass we had to make for ; one person telling us
that the lake was only a mile and a bit off ; another
that it was two miles and a bit, and so on. However,
it was only about half-past five, and, with the long
summer's evening before us, we cared little where
the lake was, as long as we could find it at all.
There were a few scattered houses along the banks
of the sea-loch at the end of which Ehiconnich is
situated, and we made sundry inquiries at these
respecting the lake, but got such very different
answers from each person, that we were almost
giving it up in despair ; I should not say that we

90 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

" inquired," as the whole talking was in Gaelic, and
therefore carried on by Dunbar. At last we met
with an old woman, who told him that there was a
loch some two miles off, which had always gone by
the name of the Loch of the Fishing Eagle ; her
Gaelic name for it being " Loch n' allan-yasker."
I probably write the Gaelic incorrectly, but that
was as near as I could make out what the name
sounded like ; Dunbar interpreted it to me as
meaning literally, the " Loch of the Eagle-fisher."
This revived our spirits, and we set our shoulders
to the hill again with fresh confidence, and a steep,
rough hill it was. We struck into the country
in a north-west direction, keeping separate heights,
in order to have a better chance of finding the lake.
Having passed several lochs without observing the
object of our search, I began almost to despair, and
to think that we must have mistaken the whole
matter — the more so, as from the aspect of the rocks
and the feel of the air from the north, I was con-
fident that the ocean must be at no great distance
from us ; and, indeed, that it must be washing the
other side of the very next range of rocks to that on
which we were. There is a certain look and feel of
the atmosphere when approaching the sea, which is
quite unmistakable. We had already walked an
hour and a half straight north-west, thus making

GIL VI. STALKING THE OSPREY 91

the two miles into at least five, when we came with-
in view of a larger loch, which seemed to wind
round the hills to nearly where the sea was. In
this we again descried the peculiar-shaped rock on
which the osprey builds. Although we were too far
off to distinguish either nest or bird, we at once,
without hesitation, made for the loch, over the
rocks and swamps of which the whole line of country
seemed to consist, and our perseverance was re-
warded by presently making out that one osprey
was on the nest, and the other soaring above her.
Dunbar again swam off to the rock, which was
about the same distance from the shore as the last
one was, and found three young birds in the nest,
which he brought to land in his cap. I saw the
male osprey perch on a rock on the opposite side of
the loch, where he sat lazily, and apparently not
inclined to join the female in her rapid flight round
Dunbar's head ; on looking at him attentively,
through the glass, I saw, or fancied that I saw, his
crop much distended with food. Knowing that if
this was the case he would probably remain on his
perch for some time, I started off round the loch,
taking a long circuit in order to approach him from
behind and from above. I had not calculated on
the rocks I had to climb and the passes I had to
take to get at him, or I do not think that I should

92 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

have undertaken the task. I had frequently to lift
my dog up the steep rocks over which I had to
climb. At last I came to a point from which I
could get a look at the bird, and with as much care
as if he had been a stag, I crept to a convenient
place, and looking over, saw him still perched on
the pinnacle of a rock, but quite out of reach. I
found that I must still make another long circuit,
or that I could not get unperceived within reach
of him.

This time, on looking carefully over, I saw that
he must be within shot of me, but the place I was
perched on was so high and steep that it almost
made me giddy to look down from it. I was com-
pletely out of breath, too ; so lying down on my
back, I waited a minute or two, and then scrambled
down to within forty yards of the bird, and imme-
diately above him. As my gun was loaded with a
cartridge, I knew that he could scarcely escape ;
so standing up, I took a good look at him, expecting
that he would see me and fly off the stone, and in-
tending to shoot him flying. Whether from the
earnestness with which he was watching the move-
ments of Dunbar, who was far below him, or from
the manner in which his head-feathers projected,
he did not appear to see me at all. After waiting
a short time without his moving, I am sorry to say

CH. VI. KILL MALE OSPREY. 93

that I shot him deliberately in cold blood as he sat.
He fell down the face of the rock, and lay at the
bottom perfectly dead. I then had to consider how
to get at him, and Fred seemed to be considering
the same thing, as, peering over the edge of the
precipice, he looked first at the dead bird and then
at me, with a countenance expressive of " There is
yonr bird now, but how are we to get at him ?"
This question, however, was soon settled by my
marking the place, and then, having made a con-
siderable detour, I managed to reach the spot. In
the meantime, Dunbar having shot both barrels at
the hen bird, she took her flight straight off to the
sea. After a short time she returned, but kept at
a wary distance, occasionally perching on the rocks,
but never remaining long in one place. It was a
curious sight from the high rocks, several hundred
yards above the loch, to watch the whole scene that
was acting below, and to see the long- winged bird
sailing to and fro almost immediately below my
feet, and yet far out of reach of shot.

The sun began to sink below the seaward rocks,
lighting up only the highest summits of the hills to
the south of the lake. On the very highest pinnacle
of the rocks I saw several goats lying in different
picturesque attitudes, to catch the last sunbeams,
one old white fellow with venerable beard and long

94 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

horns being on the topmost point of all. Whom they
could belong to it was difficult to say — they seemed
as wild as red-deer. Dogs who are accustomed to
roe seem invariably to hunt goats. Eeturning home-
wards, Fred began to snuff the air as if he smelt
something he was used to hunt. Expecting it to be
a wild-cat or some vermin, I answered his appealing
look by allowing him to go off in pursuit of what-
ever it might be. Off he went, scrambling over the
rocks in a state of furious eagerness. After a short
time, however, a small flock of goats rushed past me,
with Mr. Fred in hot pursuit on their scent. No-
thing would stop him, notwithstanding his usual
obedience, so I left him to his chase, and some
time afterwards he came up with us again, looking
heartily ashamed, and having run himself well out
of wind, the goats having probably got to some steep
rock of refuge where no dog could follow them.

About ten o'clock, it being still quite light, we
found ourselves above the sea, with our inn appar-
ently some miles off, probably about three, and
three miles of such walking as, after our hard day's
work since three in the morning, we did not much
fancy. Just then, however, we saw a boat going up
the glassy loch towards our inn ; so, hailing it as
loud as we could, we managed to make the rowers
hear us, and they having come to the shore, we with

CH. VI. LOSS OF FISHING-LINE. 95

some difficulty scrambled down the rocks and got
aboard. In the boat was what is here called a
messenger-at-arms, which, I fancy, answers some-
what to a superior kind of constable. He had been
on a strange and fruitless errand to arrest a girl of
fourteen or fifteen, who had for some time been
in the habit of driving the sheep in the neighbour-
hood on to a narrow point of land that reached into
the sea, and having caught them one by one, she
robbed them of as much wool as she could manage
to strip off. Having carried on this system for
some time, she at last became a perfect bugbear
to the farmers, and here, luckily for us, was a
well-dressed, rather dandy messenger-at-arms re-
turning from his chase, and going straight to
PJiiconnich, to which place he kindly gave us
a lift, for whicli we were very grateful to him.

We had a beautiful row up the loch ; but the
cold air, after the great heat of the afternoon while
climbing the rocks, joined to sitting for an hour in
the boat wet through above my knees, gave me an
attack of illness which eventually cut short my
rambles in Sutherland.

Between Ehiconnich and Scowrie I lost my only
fishing-line in a ridiculous manner. In the course
of our drive we passed over a very good-looking
stream, the Laxford. Thinking to catch a couple

96 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

of trout for breakfast, I put my rod together, and
leaving the horse and boat standing by the road-
side, I determined to take a quarter of an hour's
fishing, and if the trout did not rise, to continue our
journey. At the very first cast that I made, how-
ever, a large salmon took the fly, rather to my an-
noyance, knowing, as I did, that no salmon were
allowed to be killed in the Sutherland rivers this
season. But being once hooked, he might as well
be killed, so the fight commenced by the fish run-
ning clear out of the stream in which he was first
hooked, and going down like a stone to the bottom
of a deep black-looking pool below. Having only
single line and trout-tackle, I could not force him
much, but after waiting patiently with a gentle
but constant strain on the fish, in order that he
might still feel some weight upon his jaws, I at last,
in despair, gave him such a tug that he was dis-
lodged from his resting-place in spite of himself.
Off he went, sometimes across the stream, with
nearly the whole of my line out, the next moment
right under my feet in the deep pool under the rock
on which I was standing, and from which it was not
easy to move. There I could see him shaking his
head and trying to rub the hook out against the
gravel ; at another time he would take a sudden
dart to the right and left, and again shake his head

CH. VI. LARGE SALMON HOOKED. 97

like a dog worrying a rat : but knowing that he
was well hooked, and, indeed, not caring much
whether I lost him or not, I kept so tight a rein
on him as prevented his either slacking the line or
rubbing off the hook, small as it was. Suddenly a
new idea seemed to seize him, and shooting straight
upwards, he leaped several times out of the water
immediately below me. But this would not do ;
so finding that he could not get rid of the hook,
he again rushed across the river, making the handle
of the reel spin at a railway pace. He then made
down the stream as fast as he could. I had scarcely
any line left on my reel, so had to take a leap off
the rock and follow him along the bank of the river.
Presently we came to a rather rapid but not high
fall, full of broken stones, and altogether a place
where he would be sure to break my line if he once
got into it, which he seemed determined to do, so
here I halted and made a stand against all his
pulling. The fish began to feel beat, and ran in
again almost under my feet.

Not succeeding in slacking the line, he again
rushed right across and took the fall, in spite of all
I could do to prevent him. He did not cut my line
as I expected, but it gave way close to the end,
within a few inches of the reel, and before I could
catch hold of it I had the pleasure of seeing the

vol. I. H

98 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

line floating away, but gradually sinking as the fish
carried it off towards the wider pools near the sea,
Dunbar jumped gallantly into the water, but was
too late to catch it, so the salmon went off with
about forty yards of line and a couple of sea-trout
flies hanging to his mouth. I scarcely knew whether
to be angry or amused, but considering that the
former would be of no use, and perhaps spoil my
appetite for breakfast, I undid my rod, got into
the boat, and drove off to Scowrie to breakfast,
with a philosophy that rather astonished my
companion.

Having called on Mr. M'lvor, the manager of
this part of Sutherland, that gentleman offered me
his boat and other facilities to enable me to go
to see the island of Handa, which is situated some
four miles from Scowrie, and is famous as the breed-
ing-place of an immense number of sea-fowl. After
as hour's easy row and sail over the beautiful bay
of Scowrie, and skirting a range of most rugged
rocks, we approached the island. On the south
side, where we landed, it has the appearance of a
fine green slope, with only a range of low rocks im-
mediately adjoining, and reaching in long points
into the sea. About these rocks we saw thousands
of sea-gulls and cormorants, and on the point that
projected farthest into the water sat a large white

CH. VI. . ISLAND OF HANDA. 99

cat, looking wistfully towards the mainland. As
all the inhabitants had left the island early in the
spring for America, this cat had probably remained
behind, and had made her living as she best might
out of small birds, dead fish, etc. I could not
help being struck with the attitude of the poor
creature, as she sat there looking at the sea, and
having as disconsolate an air as any deserted
damsel. " She is wanting the ferry," was the quaint
and not incorrect suggestion of one of our boatmen.
Having run our boat into a small sandy creek, we
landed. Here, as everywhere round the coast, is a
fishing-station of Mr. Hogarth's, if a hut, the sum-
mer residence of two forlorn fishermen, can be called
a fishing-station. We borrowed another coil of
ropes from these men, and proceeded to the northern
side of the island, where the perpendicular rocks
form the breeding -places of the sea-fowl. The
distance across the island I should reckon at nearly
two miles, and it is a continued slope of green
pasture. I passed several huts, the former inhabit-
ants of which had all left the place a few weeks
before ; and, notwithstanding the shortness of the
time, the turf walls were already tenanted and com-
pletely honeycombed by countless starlings, who
seemed not the least shy, but, on the contrary, kept
their ground, and chattered away as if they looked

100 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

on me as an intruder on what they had already
established their right to.

Leaving them in undisturbed possession, I con-
tinued my way on to the north side, and in due time
arrived on the summit of the cliffs which stretch the
whole length of the island ; and there was a sight
which would alone repay many a weary mile of
travel. Every crevice and every ledge of the rock
was literally full of guillemots and razor-bills, while
hundreds of puffins came out of their holes under
the stones near the summit of the cliffs to examine
and wonder at us. The guillemots stood in long
lines along the shelves of the rocks, frequently
within a few feet of the top whence we were looking
at them. With a kind of foolish expression these
birds looked at us, but did not take the trouble
to move. The razor-bills, though equally tame,
seemed more ready to take flight, if we had been
inclined to assail them. When I fired off my gun,
not at, but over, the birds, the guillemots only
ducked their heads, and then looked up at us ;
whereas most of the razor-bills took a short flight
out to sea, but quickly returned again to their
perch on the rocks.

Being provided with plenty of rope, two stout
boatmen, and also a slender-looking lad, who had
volunteered to accompany us, having the repute of

CH. VI. EGGS OF SEA-FOWL. 101

a good cragsman, we lowered the latter over the
top in order to procure a few eggs. I was amazed
at the confidence and ease with which the lad made
his way from shelf to shelf, and crevice to crevice
of the precipices. From habit and custom he
seemed to be as much at his ease as if he had been
on fair terra firma. As for the birds, they would
scarcely move, but just stepped out of reach,
croaking at him with their peculiar note.

Each bird has a single egg of a size so large
as to appear quite disproportioned. The eggs are
of all colours, and marked in a thousand fantastic
manners, sometimes with large blotches of deep
brown or black, sometimes speckled slightly all
over, and others having exactly the appearance
of being covered with Arabic characters. The pre-
vailing groundwork of the eggs is greenish blue,
but they vary in different shades from that colour
to nearly white. The egg is placed on the bare
rock, with no attempt at a nest; and it was very
amusing to see the careful but awkward-looking
manner in which the old bird, on her return from
the sea, got astride, as it were, of her egg, spreading
her wings over it, and croaking gently all the time.
Occasionally an egg would get knocked off by some
bird in taking flight from the rock, to the great
indignation of its owner.

102 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

Leaving Dunbar to collect his eggs, I strolled
off alone along the summit of the cliffs, sitting
down here and there to watch the different pro-
ceedings of the birds ; and it was a most curious
sight. On lying down to look over the most
perpendicular parts, the constant and countless
clouds of birds that were flying to and fro sug-
gested the idea of a heavy snow-storm more than
anything else, so. crowded was their flight, and so
high was the cliff. The guillemots seldom came to
the top, but the razor-bills and puffins, particularly
the latter, came fearlessly close to me. Indeed the
puffins seemed to have the most entire confidence in
my peaceable intentions, and frequently alighted so
near me, that I might have knocked them down
with a walking-stick. Sitting on a stone, they exT
amined me most curiously, twisting their oddly-
shaped heads to the right and left, as if to be sure
of my identity. In some parts of the rocks there
were great "collections of kittiwakes' nests. These
birds, unlike the guillemots, etc., construct a good-
sized receptacle of weeds and grass for their eggs-.
In the midst of all this confusion and Babel of
birds, a, pair of peregrine falcons had their nests,
and on my approach they dashed about amongst the
other birds, uttering loud cries of alarm and anger.
Towards the east end of the island was the nest of

CH. VI. NEST OF WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 103

the white -tailed eagle. The old birds flew far
away immediately, and I only occasionally saw
them as they soared high in the air. The nest was
so completely under a shelf of rock that nothing
but the ends of the outer sticks could be seen.
I had not time to make any decided trial to get
at it, as I had promised to be with Mr. M'lvor
at six o'clock; and my intention of visiting the
place the next day was frustrated.

The rocks are curiously indented by the sea ; in
one place the waves have cut a kind of deep crevice
the whole height of the cliffs, for a good distance
into the island, through the narrow entrance of
which the swell was roaring with a noise like
thunder. At another part there is an island, or
stack, as it is called, within a stone's throw of the
mainland, but quite isolated. It is "in the shape of
a sugar-loaf, with a flat summit of perhaps twenty
yards across. The top was covered with green
herbage, and swarmed with birds of different kinds.
Amongst them were great numbers of black-backed
sea-gulls, both the greater and the lesser.

In the quieter parts of the cliffs were rock-
pigeons and cormorants ; neither of these birds
seemed inclined to associate much with the crowd
of sea-fowl which filled the greatest part of the
rocks. Their stench alone might drive away so

104 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI.

delicate a bird as a rock-pigeon, and bad as this
was now, by the time they had hatched and reared
their young it must be much worse.

The rest of the party having joined me, and the
time running short, I left the island in order to
fulfil my promise of partaking of Mr. M'lvor's
hospitality at six o'clock ; and I must say that
after living so many days at small inns where I
could, and how I could, an evening spent in the
agreeable society of Mr. M'lvor and the ladies at
his house was a treat, as I had begun to feel like
an uncivilised being.

On leaving the island we again saw the white
cat seated on the same point of rock, and still
looking anxiously towards the mainland.

Limited in size as the island of Handa is, it
seems to contain a fine range of rich herbage, with
a gentle slope to the south, and to be capable of
feeding a considerable number of sheep or cattle.
I was told, however, that much loss is sustained
from the animals falling over the rocks, when
they are inevitably dashed to pieces.

I f/^ilP^--

Loch near Rhiconnich.

Vol. i. p. 105. J

CH. VII. ANOTHER OSPREY'S NEST. 105

CHAPTER VII.

Another Osprey's Nest ; Variety of Eggs — Golden Eagle ;
Manner of Hunting; decrease of — Egg Collectors — Mr.
Hancock's Collection — Nests of Eagles ; Animals killed by —
The Mountain Hare — Fishing of Osprey.

Two miles from Scowrie, on the Ehiconnich road
or near it, is a loch where the ospreys build, and
where, in May, I shot the old hen, taking at the
same time two eggs. Mr. Dunbar, with his usual
perseverance, went to this nest immediately on our
return from Handa, and found that the male bird
had got another mate, and that she was already
busily employed in sitting on a single egg.

It is very difficult to describe correctly the eggs
of many birds : for instance, the two eggs which
I took from this nest were beautifully marked with
fine rich red spots, while the egg now taken by
Dunbar was of a dirty white colour, marked at one
end only by a splash of brown, and was also smaller
than the others. In another nest, again, the eggs
were considerably larger than either of these, and
differently marked both as to colour and shape of
spots. In the same manner one reads the descrip-
tion of the size of birds as being measured to inches

106 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VIL

and sixteenths of an inch, but the authors forget
or are not aware of the constant difference of size
in birds of the same species.

We also examined the nest that we had seen in
May last near the ferry of Glendha, or Kyleska as
it is also called. On looking at it with a glass, we
saw one old bird sitting, not standing, on the nest,
and yet on Dunbar's swimming out to it he found
no egg in the nest, which was exactly in the same
state as when we left it three or four weeks ago :
both birds, too, continued sailing and screaming
over our heads as if they had eggs or young ones to
defend. This nest, like the last three that we had
seen, was built on the same kind of conical rock,
standing out of the waters of the lake ; indeed, on
all the lakes where this singularly-shaped rock was
to be seen, there also was the osprey's nest, and
there it had apparently been for many a long year,
as was clearly shown by one of the lochs being
known by the old people only under the name of
the loch of the "Eagle JFisher." The ospreys, on
their arrival in this country, seem to seek out
these rocks in the wild solitudes, and on these
and these alone do they build. Trusting to their
isolated and lonely situation for safety, these in-
teresting birds hold undisputed sway over their
watery kingdom. I could not help being reminded

CH. VII. ■ GOLDEN EAGLE. 107

of a couple of lines which I fell in with, that
seem a propos to this instinct of the osprey which
leads her to find out and take possession of all
the rocks of this particular shape that are to be
found in the lochs of Sutherland : —

' ' Ni fallat fatuni Scoti quocunque locatum
Invenient Lapidem, regnare tenentur ibidem."

I cannot remember whom I quote from.

We drove again through the magnificently wild
country which intervenes between Kyleska and
Inchnadamph. Above the shoulder of the moun-
tain, which stands conspicuously in front of the inn,
a golden eagle was hunting. The distance at which
this bird can see her prey has often been talked of,
but I never saw her power in this respect so fully
displayed as on this occasion. The eagle was hover-
ing so high in the air that she looked like a speck,
when suddenly she distinguished a grouse on the
heather, even at that immense distance. The height
was too great to make a direct swoop, so the noble
bird, instead of coming down straight at the grouse,
almost closed her wings, and wheeled with rapid
circles downwards from her first height, till she was
within a more moderate distance from the ground.
The grouse seemed then to have hidden itself, for the
eagle remained hovering for a few minutes, turning

108 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VII.

her head in every direction, as if she had lost sight
of her victim ; when, suddenly catching a glimpse
of the poor bird, down she came with extended
legs, and without seeming more than to touch the
heather with her talons, she caught the grouse, and
the next moment was flying rapidly away towards
the highest cliffs of the mountain with her prey.

Notwithstanding the incessant war waged against
these noble birds, there are still some few eagles
left in certain districts ; but where there is much
grouse-shooting, and where, in consequence, there
are many keepers, they are quite extirpated. The
shepherds seem too indolent to take much trouble
about killing the old birds ; though the mania for
collecting birds' eggs bids fair, I fear, to prevent
any number of young eagles being hatched, as the
eggs have become in such demand that they fetch
from a pound to five-and-twenty shillings each
from the numerous collectors, who, by-the-by, are
constantly imposed upon most grossly in their
collections.

The most perfect arrangement of British eggs
that I ever saw, and one that is quite to be relied
on for the identity of every egg, belongs to my
friend Mr. Hancock of Newcastle — a gentleman
who combines with the most indefatigable and
zealous love of nature in all her forms, a refined

CH. VII. EGGS OF EAGLES. 109

taste and acute perception that no trick of the trade
can impose upon.

Mr. Hancock's collection comprises very nearly
every British bird's egg, and many varieties of each
kind, which he has collected, from public-spirited
motives, at an incalculable outlay of time and ex-
pense, aided by a perfect and intimate knowledge of
every bird, both in its living state and habits, and
in its anatomical structure and formation.

Notwithstanding, as I say, the prices given by
London collectors, the sea-eagle, at any rate, is toler-
ably common on the northern coast and islands.
From its habit of building principally on the most
inaccessible rocks and cliffs of the sea-coast, its
nest is more secure than that of the golden eagle,
which, building farther inland, and frequently in
more accessible places, is liable to be killed, or to
have its nest taken by shepherds, keepers, etc.

The eggs of these two eagles are very similar to
each other ; but the different specimens of each sort
vary considerably in size and colour. I have seen
golden eagles' eggs of many different shades, from
one of a pure white to one covered with light red
spots ; and the white-tailed eagle's eggs vary in the
same manner. The eggs of both have a fine strong
character about them, which is difficult to under-
stand without seeing the egg. The nests of both

110 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VII.

kinds are generally formed of sticks of an astonish-
ing size, frequently as large in diameter as a man's
arm — these, too, brought from a considerable dis-
tance; sometimes it is impossible to say where they
can have procured them. The white-tailed eagle
does not hesitate to use the coarse sea-ware and
tangle for her nest. They build not only in the
steepest possible cliff, but generally take advantage
of some overhanging shelf, which, concealing the
nest from above, makes it doubly secure ; occa-
sionally, however, I have known a golden eagle
build in a place where an expert climber could
reach the nest without the aid of ropes.

The remains of game of all kinds common in the
mountains are found in great abundance about their
nests when they have young ; lambs also, and near
the deer-forests young red-deer, are taken up to the
nest. I cannot say whether they carry up the latter
animals whole or not, but their remains always form
part of the larder found at an eagle's abode, if it is
in a situation where deer abound. The weight of
a newly-born red-deer calf is not great, and, once in
the air, the eagle would carry one easily enough.
Instances have occurred of an eagle attacking a
person when engaged in robbing her nest, but,
generally speaking, they have a proper dread of
man and fire-arms. Nevertheless I have known

€H. VII. • MOUNTAIN HAKE. Ill

some well -authenticated instances of this fear
being entirely put aside ; indeed it could scarcely
be otherwise with so powerful and fierce a bird
as an eagle, when so weak and timid a bird as a
partridge has been known to fly at and strike a
man's legs like a gamecock on her young ones being
too nearly approached. This I have seen happen,
and therefore I can easily believe that an eagle
may do the same in defence of her young.

The actual damage done to game by eagles is, in
my opinion, comparatively small, the favourite food
of these birds being the mountain hare, and every
sportsman knows that the fewer of these animals he
has on his ground the better : where they increase
too rapidly (and no animal does increase more
quickly) they become a perfect plague to grouse
dogs, for however well broken your setters and
pointers may be, the manner in which mountain
hares run cannot fail to make the dogs fidgety and
anxious, besides tainting the ground. Instead of
running clear away when started, like the common
lowland hare, this animal {Lepus albus) hops quietly
from before the dog's nose, and stops to sit erect on
the very first hillock she meets with, within a hun-
dred yards of the dogs. When again approached
she repeats the same trick, and frequently remains
for a quarter of an hour going slowly in front of the

112 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VII.

dogs, and sitting up on her hind legs in full view of
them ; in this manner not only tainting the ground
with her scent, but, as it were, challenging the dogs
to a trial of speed. Notwithstanding the good
training one would suppose these inhabitants of the
mountain ought to be in, they are easily run down,
even by a quick colley dog. I know of some grouse-
shootings where these hares have increased to such
an extent, owing to the destruction of vermin, that
they have been killed by hundreds in a day, and
are shot down at all seasons as a nuisance. A few
eagles on such ground would be of great service.

When mountain hares are not to be had by the
eagles, they feed more on carrion, such as dead
sheep, than birds, a good-sized dead animal of this
kind being far more suited to the ravenous appetite
of a golden eagle than a small bird like a grouse ;
and in the sheep districts there must be a constant
supply, owing to accidents and disease.

In the month of May I saw the nest of an osprey
on the very summit of the old castle built on a point
of land (sometimes an island) in Loch Assynt. The
nest was then tenantless, and had been so for two
or three years. On my return in June, I was much
pleased at seeing one osprey on the nest and another
sailing over the loch.

Though the osprey is, generally speaking, so very

CH. VII. FISHING OF OSPREY. 113

rare in Britain, it frequents this locality, which seems
particularly to suit it. Large tracts of the country
here are almost unseen by human beings from one
end of the year to the other. Covered with gray
rocks, and broken up into a succession of small
hollows, in most of which there are lochs, all
abounding in trout, this district is exactly suited
for the osprey, while it is unfit for any other
animal ; the sheep remain more on the extensive
and grassy slopes, where they not only find plenty
of food, but are more under the eye and protection
of mankind. A shepherd in the broken, rocky
tracts of country can have no chance of finding
or seeing his flock ; while, at the same time, the
pasturage is worth but little, consisting wholly of
rank heather. lSTor is the ground at all better
adapted for the grouse shooter, as he would never
keep sight of his dogs for two minutes together.
For these reasons the osprey is but little disturbed,
and lives unmolested for years. Even if a shep-
herd does pass the loch, the bird sits securely on
her isolated rock, out of reach of all danger, as
her nest can only be approached, in most instances,
by swimming. I generally saw the osprey fishing
about the lower pools of the rivers, near their
mouths, and a beautiful sight it is. The long-
winged bird hovers (as a kestrel does over a mouse)

VOL. I. I

114 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VII.

at a considerable distance above the water, some-
times on perfectly motionless wing, and sometimes
wheeling slowly in circles, turning her head and
looking eagerly down at the water ; she sees a trout
when at a great height, and suddenly closing her
wings, drops like a shot bird into the water, often
plunging completely under, and at other times ap-
pearing scarcely to touch the water ; but seldom
failing to rise again with a good-sized fish in her
talons. The feet of the osprey are extremely rough,
and the toes placed in a peculiar manner, so as to
give the best possible chance of holding her slippery
prey. Sometimes, in the midst of her swoop, the
osprey suddenly stops herself in the most abrupt
manner, probably because the fish, having changed
its position, is no longer within her range ; she then
hovers again, stationary in the air, anxiously looking
below for the reappearance of her prey. Having
well examined one pool, she suddenly turns off, and
with rapid flight takes herself to an adjoining part
of the stream, where she again begins to hover and
circle in the air. On making a pounce into the
water, the osprey dashes the spray up far and wide,
so as to be seen for a considerable distance.

The rapidity and certainty of stroke that a bird
must possess to enable it to catch so quick a creature
as the sea-trout can scarcely be understood. One

CH. VII. OSPREY. 115

would naturally suppose that the trout, in its own
element, would give a bird not the slightest chance
of catching it, particularly as this can only be done
at one dash, the osprey, of course, not being able
to pursue a trout under the water like a cormorant.
All fly-fishers must know the lightning-like rapidity
with which a trout darts up from the depth of
several feet, and with unerring aim seizes the fly
almost before its wings touch the water ; and yet
here is a large bird, hovering directly over, and in
full view of the water, who manages to catch the
rapid-darting trout with an almost certain swoop,
although one would naturally suppose that the fish
would be far off, in the depth of the pool, or behind
some place of refuge, long before the bird could
touch the water. In the same manner it has often
puzzled me how the terns can with such certainty
pounce upon and catch so quick a little fish as the
sand-eel : the tern's feet not being at all suited for
holding anything, these birds catch the sand-eel
with their bills.

The osprey is not nearly so early as the eagle
in breeding; in fact the latter is far advanced
towards hatching her eggs before the osprey arrives
in Scotland. It is said the ospreys always arrive in
pairs ; if so, however, it is not easy to understand
how, when one out of a pair is killed, the re-

116

TOUR IN SUTHERLAND.

CH. VII.

maining bird can find a mate, which it generally
manages to do. There are, too, but very few in
Britain at any time, their principal headquarters
seeming to be in America ; and though living in
tolerable peace in the Highlands, they do not
appear to increase nor to breed in any localities
excepting where they find a situation for their
nest similar to what I have already described.
As they in no way interfere with the sportsman
or others, it is a great pity that they should ever
be destroyed.

CH. VIII. AGRICULTURE OF SUTHERLAND. 117

CHAPTER VIII.

County of Sutherland ; Variety of Climate and Soil— List of
Birds ; of Hawks ; Owls ; of the smaller Land Birds ; of the
Crow Tribe ; Pigeons, etc.

There is no county in Britain with a greater
variety of soil and climate than Sutherlandshire,
changing gradually from the rich and highly culti-
vated farms on the Dornoch Firth to the gray rocks
and mountains of Assynt and Scowrie. The living
productions are also as varied and numerous as
can be found in any district of our island. There
are few British birds or quadrupeds that are
not to be found in this county ; the vegetable
productions, cultivated and uncultivated, are as
numerous and varied.

The first agriculturists in England would delight
in the fine farms near Dunrobin, and might perhaps
take a lesson or gain a hint from the tenant's manage-
ment of cattle and wheat, most of which is destined
ultimately for the London market. Though no
farmer myself, I pulled in my horse for some time
to admire the numerous and beautifully kept cattle
and crops of Mr. Craig of Kirkton, one of the Duke

118 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VIII.

of Sutherland's most skilful and enterprising ten-
ants. His cows would have gladdened the eyes of
any Devonshire or Cheshire dairywoman, as they
did mine, a simple admirer as I am of beauty in any
living animal, from a milk-cow to a field-mouse.

There is an air of well-doing and comfort about
the farms on the Duke of Sutherland's property
which is delightful to the passer-by, and must be
doubly so to the kind and liberal landlord. Very
striking, too, is the different appearance of the
tenantry on some neighbouring properties, where,
to keep up a forced and contemptible show, the
proprietor rack-rents his tenants to the very utmost
pitch of endurance.

I will endeavour to give, for the use of the
naturalist, a list of the wild-birds of the county ;
which he must take, however, exceptis eaxipiendis,
as a list of an unscientific observer of nature.

To begin with the finest of our indigenous
birds : —

1. The Golden Eagle is still to be found tolerably
numerous, but gradually decreasing, in the north
and north-west part of the county, though likely to
be soon extirpated, owing to game-preserving and
sheep-farming. To the latter the eagle is far more
destructive than to the former.

CH. VIII. BIRDS OF SUTHERLAND. 119

2. The Cinereous or White-tailed Eagle is per-
haps more numerous than the Golden Eagle ; living,
as it does, principally in the lofty cliffs of the sea-
coast, and feeding more on dead fish and food found
on the shore, it does not so often fall in the way of
the trapper or fox-hunter : it breeds, sometimes,
amongst the inland mountains. The White-tailed
Eagle, though larger than the Golden, is not so
handsome nor finely formed and coloured a bird.
All other varieties of the eagle found in the Hi^h-
lands are merely these birds in different states of
plumage, owing to sex or age, as there are only
these two distinct kinds of eagle in Britain.

3. The Osprey is more rare and local than either
kind of eagle. Though not a very heavy bird, its
breadth of wing nearly equals that of the Golden
Eagle. The habitat of the Osprey is confined to
the north-west part of the county, where the numer-
ous lochs, well supplied with trout, afford this bird
both refuge and food. The principal, if not the
only places in which it breeds, are Loch Assynt ; a
loch two or three miles north of the ferry of Kyleska ;
a loch three miles eastward of Scowrie ; two of the
fresh-water lakes near Loch Inchard, at the head
of which is the inn of Ehiconnich ; and, again, on
Loch Maddie, the Osprey occasionally frequents a
nest built on an old birch -tree in an island.

120 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VIII.

4. The Peregrine Falcon comes next to the
Osprey. There are few ranges of lofty and pre-
cipitous rock where this bird does not breed. The
nest is difficult of access, and the old birds shy and
wary ; nor are they easily trapped, as they do not
condescend to feed on any game which they have
not killed themselves : grouse, plovers, and wild-
fowl seem to be their principal food.

5, 6. The Hobby or Goshawk I never saw in this
county, though I have no doubt of their being fre-
quent visitors here, particularly the former. The
Goshawk seems very rare everywhere in Scotland.

7. The Merlin, the smallest of our British falcons,
is not uncommon ; it builds in the long heather,
and preys on small birds, snipes, etc. Bold and
courageous, it will sometimes attack birds much
larger than itself. Owing to its high spirit and
daring the Merlin is not difficult to train for hunt-
ing, and this beautiful little bird seems to have
been in former days the peculiar hawk used by
ladies : —

" A merlin sat upon her wrist,
Held by a leash of silken twist."

Its light weight would weary no lady's arm.

8. The Kestrel is common everywhere, from
north to south of the county ; building in every
cliff and rocky burn. Though ignorant game-

CH. VIII. BIRDS. 121

keepers destroy it, the Kestrel, preying principally
on mice, does far more good than harm.

9. The Sparrow-hawk usually frequents the
more woody parts of the county. Bold and
courageous, it strikes and bears away a common
pigeon with apparent ease.

10. The Kite being a large, greedy bird, and
easily caught in traps, is very rare now — common
as it was a few years ago. In the wooded districts
it is still, though but seldom, seen soaring with
graceful flight high in the air. By repute the
Kite is a great chicken stealer, and when she has
young of her own to provide for, no bird destroys
more grouse, young hares, etc.

11. The Common Buzzard a few years ago was
very common, but now has been completely exter-
minated, excepting in the wilder districts. With its
fine soaring flight the buzzard is a most interesting
bird. In all its habits it appears to me to resemble
the eagle more than any other kind of hawk.

12. The Hen Harrier is plentiful enough in the
hilly districts, and, though very destructive to game,
it compensates for this in some degree by occa-
sionally preying upon rats, vipers, etc. The cock
is distinguished from afar by his nearly white
plumage ; while the hen in her plain dress of brown
is best known by the white ring on her tail, unde

122 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VIII.

derivatur her name of ring-tail. The young male
has the same plumage as the female.

13. The Ash-coloured Harrier (Falco cineraceus)
breeds near Bonar Bridge. Mr. Dunbar has taken
the nest and killed the old birds in that district.

I do not know for a certainty of any other hawks
breeding in this county, but probably the Marsh
Harrier, Honey Buzzard, etc., are occasionally met
with.

14. The Scops -eared Owl has been found to
breed near the Oykel river, having her nest on the
heather.1

15. The Long-eared Owl breeds commonly in
the fir plantations, or in ivy-covered rocks.

1 6. The Short-eared Owl migrates to this country
in October, and, unlike other owls, is found con-
stantly in turnip-fields, rough grass, etc. This kind
hunts frequently in the daytime.

1 7. The Common Wliite Owl lives, as in England,
in old buildings, rocks, etc., and, as it preys almost
wholly on mice, ought never to be destroyed.

18. The Common Brown or Tawny Owl lives
principally in the woody districts, where it is very
common. In the frosty clear nights of winter this
bird is heard hooting and uttering strangely wild
cries. In the spring it comes abroad at an earlier
hour than any other owl ; and sitting on the top-

1 Query, Short-eared Owl. See Appendix, page 333.

CH. VIII. BIRDS. 123

most and leafless bough of some ash or larch tree,
may be seen puffing out its neck and hooting loudly.

1 9. The Snowy Owl is not unfrequently driven
over to the north and north-east coast after severe
gales from that quarter.

20. A specimen of that beautiful little species
called Tengmalm's Owl was killed in May 1847, by
Mr. Dunbar, in an old ruined factory at Spinning-
dale, in Sutherlandshire. This and many other
foreign birds may be, and most probably frequently
are, driven over to the wild and solitary eastern
shores of the county without being seen or heard of.

I must here put in a word for owls. They are
most unjustly and ruthlessly persecuted. Most
owls are not only harmless, but in fact they are of
infinite service to mankind. Hunting chiefly by
night, when almost all young birds are safe in their
roosting-places, the owls prey principally, if not en-
tirely, on mice and rats, which are then abroad in all
directions plundering the farmer's produce. Where
the owls have been much destroyed by pole-traps
and other means, mice and rats increase to the most
mischievous extent, not only destroying grain, but
also doing immense mischief in young plantations,
by barking and nibbling the shoots of the young
trees sometimes to an almost inconceivable extent.

21. The Spotted Flycatcher is common enough.

124 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VIII.

Tame and familiar, it builds its well-concealed nest
in the creepers and ivy that grow round a window
or against the garden- wall. It arrives in May and
departs early in autumn. Being dependent on
flies for its subsistence, the first approach of cold
drives this bird from the north to seek a warmer
climate.

2 2. The Water-Ousel enlivens most of the moun-
tain streams with its lively motions and merry note.
In winter it comes nearer to the sea for unfrozen
water, while in summer it is seen everywhere from
Cape Wrath to Dunrobin.

23. The Common Ming-Ousel cheers the wan-
derer through all the wilder parts of the county,
suddenly breaking out unexpectedly into loud song
in places where the eagle or grouse would be more
looked for than a singing bird.

24. The Missel Thrush is common, breeding
very early. I saw it as far northward as Tongue.

25. The Common Song Thrush is to be seen
wherever there is wood.

26. The Blachhird, though not quite so common,
is plentiful also.

2 7. The Fieldfare and Redwing arrive in great
numbers, and do not depart till some time in April.

28. The Hedge Sparrow breeds in every hedge
in all the cultivated parts of the country.

CH. VIII. BIRDS. 125

29. The Robin, with its usual sociability, fre-
quents the habitations of man, as in other countries.

30. The Redstart breeds commonly about the
woody glens and gardens near Dunrobin ; but, like
most other insectivorous birds, departs for the south
on the first approach of winter.

31. The Sedge Warbler, singing like the nightin-
gale during all the hours of darkness, is common.
I heard its sweet note constantly during the night-
time: generally it sings about reedy lochs and
swamps. The most northern spot at which I heard
this bird was at Tongue, where its song was easily
distinguished, and had a most pleasing effect
amongst the harsher notes of the landrail, red-
shank, sea-gulls, etc.

32. The Willow Wren is also met with wherever
there are hedges or plantations.

There may probably be many other birds of the
same family, unobserved by me, in the extensive
woods of the southern parts of Sutherlandshire.

33. The Golden-crested Wren is very numerous
throughout the year.

34. The Fire-crested Wren (Regidus ignicapillus)
is sometimes met with. Mr. Bantock, the Duke
of Sutherland's gamekeeper, who has a collection
of birds killed on the property, showed me one
specimen. Being very like the golden -crested

126 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VIII.

wren, this bird may be much commoner than is
supposed.

35. The Pied Wagtail; 36. The Gray Wag-
tail ; and 3 7. The Yellow Wagtail, — are all
numerous,1 particularly the two former.

38. The Titlark abounds in every part of the
open and high districts, frequenting the summits
even of the highest mountains, where it feeds on
the numerous insects to be found amongst the
stones and plants.

39. The Rock Pipit is very similar to the last-
named bird ; it frequents the sea-shores.

40. The Wheatear, coming early in the spring,
ranges over the whole county, and is very abundant
along the roadside in all the mountainous districts.
It departs in the winter.

41. 42. The Whin Chat and Stone Chat are
to be seen in all the rough grounds where furze
and broom are abundant.

43. The Great Titmouse; 44. The Blue Tit-
mouse; 45. The Cole Titmouse; 46. The Long-
tailed Titmouse, — all enliven the woods and planta-
tions throughout the year. Although not exactly
migratory birds, all the Titmice, as well as the
Golden-crested Wren, seem nearly constantly on
the move, passing from tree to tree, from hedge to
hedge, from wood to wood, and in fact from dis-
1 Doubtful statement. J. A. H.-B.

CH. VIII. BIRDS. 127

trict to district, to wherever the insects on which
they prey are most numerous.

47. The Bohemian Waxwing, a very beautiful
bird, though not a native, is occasionally killed in
Sutherland ; as are

48. The Hoopoe; and 49. The Rose-coloured
Starling, and probably many other continental
visitors.

50. The Sky Lark is seen everywhere, having
few enemies excepting the merlin and other small
hawks.

51. The variety of sky lark called the Crested
Lark is also found about Assynt.1

52. The Snow Buntings arrive in great numbers
in October. As the frost and snow increase, the
male birds daily become whiter. They appear to
be never at rest, flitting to and fro along the sea-
shore, or other places where they find their minute
food.

53. The Corn Bunting haunts the cultivated
regions : he is never far from the corn-fields.

54. The Yellow Bunting, on the contrary, seems
far more independent of grain; and I saw it
throughout the county wherever there were any
bushes or trees.

55. The Reed Bunting is common also near
rushy and reedy pools.

1 Error. J. A. H.-B.

128 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VIII.

56. The Chaffinch; 57. The Greenfinch; 58.
The Bull/inch ; 59. The Goldfinch ; 60. The Lin-
net— all common and daily-seen English birds- —
are everywhere to be found ; excepting, indeed, the
goldfinch, which bird is far more rare than the
others, being seen only about some of the gardens
and orchards in the south of the county.

61. The Mountain- finch, a bird not unlike the
female snow-bunting in general appearance, is a
frequent [?] visitor.

62. The common House Sparrow, as usual, fre-
quents the habitations of men everywhere as far as
Tongue.

63. The Sisken is in almost every wood during
the spring and summer ; nevertheless its nest is
but rarely found.

6 4. The Redpolc is also common : it breeds in
the little thickets of birch, etc., by the sides of
many of the wild mountain lakes ; and in winter
may be seen in large flocks feeding on the seeds
of the alder and other trees.

65. The Cross Bill has of late years become
numerous in the fir-woods, and will probably be-
come far more so when the magnificent plantations
of the Duke of Sutherland grow to a height suited
to these amusing birds.

66. The Common Starling is widely distributed.

CH. VIII. BIRDS. 129

The greatest number that I saw in any one place
was on the island of Handa.

67. The Goatsucker, an insectivorous bird, al-
though not very frequently seen, is easily recognised
by the humming noise it utters, which resembles
somewhat the low buzzing of a spinning-wheel.

68. The Cornish Chough, or Red-legged Crow, is
rare. It fixes upon the most lofty and steep pre-
cipices for its abode. I saw it near Durness.1

69. The Raven, manages, notwithstanding the
constant war waged against him, to keep his ground,
and to continue tolerably numerous. I constantly
see a pair or more of them playing grotesque antics,
and uttering varied and strange cries upon some
isolated rock on the mountain side, from which they
can have a good view of any approaching enemy.
Their chief location is, however, along the sea-
shore, and about the rocky islands, where they
can get a good supply of dead fish, seals, etc.

70. The Carrion Crow is rare ; but,

71. The Hooded Crow is numerous everywhere,
in spite of traps and guns. Wary and strong, they
manage to evade all attempts at their extirpation,
and to keep up their indiscriminate and wholesale
destruction of eggs of every kind. I consider the
hooded crow to be the greatest enemy to game,
and indeed to all other birds, that we have. I

1 See Appendix, page 345.
VOL. I. K

130 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VIII.

have seen a black crow and hooded crow nesting
together.

72. The Rook is as common in Sutherland as in
any other part of the kingdom, repaying by its
destruction of grubs and noxious insects the mis-
chief it does to grain.

73. The Jackdaw is numerous, building both
in rocks and chimneys, as its convenience or fancy
happens to lead it.

74. The Magpie is a common inhabitant of all
the woody districts.

75. That singular little bird the Wryneck has
been killed but rarely in Sutherlandshire.

76. The Common Tree-creeper is everywhere in
abundance where there is wood.

77. The Cuckoo is in great abundance during
the spring and summer, more particularly in the
rocky and wild hill-sides, where there are frequent
patches of birch and other underwood. I heard it
at Tongue, and everywhere to the south of that
place.

78. The Kingfisher is a rare but occasional
visitor : it does not breed in Sutherlandshire.

79. The Chimney Swallow is common.

80. The Swift, according to its universal habit,
wheels and screams as diligently round Dornoch
Cathedral and other lofty buildings in Sutherland,

CH. VIII. BIRDS. 131

as it does round the spire of a village church in
England.

81. The Sand Martin is numerous wherever the
ground suits its habits ; and the Common House
Martin is also everywhere : it breeds, too, in many
of the rocky cliffs and caves of the coast. I par-
ticularly observed it in the cave of Smoo, near
Durness.1

82. The Wood-Pigeon is numerous wherever
woods and cultivation united afford it food and
shelter. In my opinion the good it does the
farmer, in feeding for many months of the year on
the seeds of the wild mustard, ragweed, etc. etc.,
is a fair equivalent for all the grain it consumes.
As far north as Tongue I heard and saw this bird.

83. The Bock Dove, a beautiful and interest-
ing little bird, frequents most of the rocky shores
of the north coast. Inhabiting the crevices and
caverns formed by the constant beating of the
waves, and fearless of the surf and swell dashing
constantly into its dwelling-places, this bird lives
and multiplies ; seldom killed by man, but prob-
ably affording a great source of food to the pere-
grine falcons who build in its neighbourhood.

I never saw any kind of woodpecker in Suther-
landshire, though it is most probable that the
spotted woodpecker does exist in the old woods near

1 See Appendix, page 315.

132 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VIII.

Dunrobin and elsewhere. Indeed I have heard that
it has been seen there ; but I would rather run the
chance of leaving out birds that do occur than insert
the name of any bird as being indigenous, unless I
had seen it myself, or had heard of its being seen
by persons whose authority I could not doubt, either
as to their truthfulness or their skill.

I write these pages wholly for the amusement
and information of my reader, and take down the
names of birds out of my note-book, in which I
have inserted them in almost every instance after
having seen them myself ; and the very few which
I have not seen living in Sutherlandshire, Mr.
Dunbar has procured in that county, and has
them now preserved in his collection.

I must apologise to the scientific ornithologist
for any mistakes I may have made in naming the
several birds, as I am more of an out-door than an
in-door naturalist ; and if my notes are of any
value, it will be for their truth, and because they
are the result of personal observation and acquaint-
ance with the birds. I will only request, in the
words of Horace —

Si quid novisti rectius istis,
Candidus imperti : si non, his utere mecum.

CH. IX. BIRDS. 133

CHAPTER IX.

List continued — Game Birds ; Destruction of by Shepherds —
Plovers — Sandpipers and Snipes, etc. — Water-fowl ; Swans,
Geese, varieties of Ducks, Grebes, Terns, Gulls, etc. —
Decrease of many kinds of birds — Egg Dealers.

The next class of birds inhabiting Sutherlandshire
that I will enumerate are those more immediately
coming under the denomination of game.

84. First among which is the Blackcock, cer-
tainly the finest game bird of Britain. In the
numerous and extensive plantations of the Duke of
Sutherland this bird abounds, and extends through-
out the county wherever it has the least protection
from vermin and shepherds, and wherever there are
any patches of wood. I saw several near the shore
of Loch Laighal. It is, however, a bird easily
destroyed. The shepherds and their boys generally
carry guns, under the excuse of shooting foxes
(which they never do), and in consequence black
game and everything that is eatable fall a prey to
these men at all seasons of the year, whilst gray
crows and other destructive birds pass by unharmed.

85. Grouse, of course, abound only where vermin

134 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IX.

are kept under. In the north and north-west
districts of the county, excepting in one or two
small districts, grouse are very rare indeed. In
Assynt, where a clever keeper and trapper is kept,
these birds have increased rapidly within a few
years. The Duke of Sutherland, I believe, only
preserves that part of the country nearer to Dun-
robin, and which is within reach of his friends.
Even if all his immense territory were preserved
and protected from vermin, etc., a great part of it,
from its distance, would be useless as shooting-
ground. No bird is handsomer or more game-like
than a cock grouse in the spring-time, as he struts
and crows with erect comb on some hillock, scarcely
taking notice of the passer-by.

8 6. The Ptarmigan is tolerably numerous on the
more lofty ranges of mountains, such as Ben Hee,
Ben Cleebrick, Ben Laighal, and many others, the
summits of which this bird frequents, seldom
coming down to the heather, but living, a true
child of the mist, above all vegetation, amongst the
rocks and loose stones. The Ptarmigan requires
protection as well as the grouse, more particularly
from shepherds and their boys.

87. The Common Pheasant is nowhere very
abundant in Sutherland ; in the lower districts,
near Dunrobin, there are some, but no great

CH. IX. BIRDS. 135

number, sufficient, however, to make a beautiful
variety in the game of the county.

88. Partridges, on the contrary, are very numer-
ous in all the southern range, where the finely-
cultivated fields, bordering on the young plantations,
offer every advantage for their breeding. I have
occasionally seen partridges in very wild parts of
Sutherland, where no bird but grouse would be
looked for.

89. The Quail appears occasionally near Dun-
robin. This bird may be here oftener than is
supposed ; for, arriving when the wheat is at a
sufficient height to conceal it, seldom taking wing,
and departing before the crops are well off the
ground, its presence can only be known by its
peculiar call or whistle.

90. The Landrail, as I have before said, is in
every corner of the county where it can find a patch
of corn. I heard it at Tongue in great numbers ;
also at Heilam Ferry in a small patch of oats.
The gamekeeper at Tongue told me that he kills
it frecpiently during the winter.

From the landrail one naturally comes to that
class of birds which comprise the plovers, etc.

91. The Golden Plover is very numerous in all
the higher districts during the breeding season.
Its eggs are beautifully marked and very large in

136 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IX.

proportion to the size of the bird. I saw these
plovers on all the elevated moors : in winter they
collect and descend towards the shores.

92. The Dotterel, a rare bird anywhere, breeds
on Cleebrick, but is by no means numerous.

93. The Ring Dotterel is very numerous, breed-
ing near the lakes and streams, and also near
the sea-shore : they leave the inland parts of the
country entirely on the approach of winter.

94. The Peewit or Lapwing is numerous every-
where from the end of February to the end of
October.

95. The Turnstone is only a visitor, not breed-
ing here.

96. The Godwit.

97. The Sandcrling.

9 8. The Knot, and a great variety of waders and
sandpipers which, not being thoroughly acquainted
with throughout all their changes of plumage, I can-
not enumerate, swarm on all the sandy and muddy
creeks and bays of the county. It would require
many years, and a most accomplished naturalist,
to describe accurately all the varieties that are to
be found on these coasts. I am confident that,
at different times, almost every known kind of
shore-bird could be procured.

99. The Oyster -catcher breeds here and re-

CH. IX. EIRDS. 137

mains during the winter, always finding a good
supply of food.

100. The Curlew, too, breeds on all the high
moors, and takes to the shore in the winter.

101. The Dunlin, and

102. Common Sandpiper, also breed near most
of the lakes and streams.

103. The Jack-snipe is said to breed in one or
two localities, as is also

104. The Great Snipe (ScoIojmx major); but I
never was quite satisfied with the authenticity of
these accounts, particularly as regards the jack-
snipe ; for the very man whom I was referred to as
having seen this bird breeding (Mr. Boss, the keeper
at Tongue) distinctly assured me that it never had
been seen in that country in the breeding season.

105. The Common Snipe breeds in every locality
suited to its habits.

106. The Woodcock, of late years, has com-
menced breeding also in most of the large woods,
laying four large eggs, similar in colour to those
of the snipe.

107. The Redshank breeds also very commonly
in all marshy parts of the hills.

108. The Grecnshank is not so common, but I
saw it breeding about Loch Naver, Loch Laighal,
and in many other places throughout the county.

138 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IX.

109. The Water-rail is not uncommon in the
winter, but from its retired habits is seldom seen :
it may perhaps breed in the larger tracts of reeds
and rushes, though I have never heard of its nest
being found.

110. The Whimbrel breeds in the northern and
most retired parts of the country ; I saw several
on the island of Handa in the month of June.1

111. The Heron is common everywhere, though
the only breeding-place that I know of is near
Louberoy, on the Oykel river, where these birds
breed on an island in a loch situated some two
miles from the roadside.

112. The Bittern is rare: but I have heard its
cry near Shinness, on Loch Shin.

113. That very pretty and elegant little bird
the Bed-necked Bhalarope is found in the breeding
season, but only rarely. I saw a pair close to
Loch Naver in the month of June : they evidently
had a nest not far from the spot.

The varieties of water-fowl are very numer-
ous, and no doubt the county is visited by
nearly every known European species at different
seasons.

114. The Common Wild Swan, and

115. Bewick's Swan, are not uncommon during
the winter. Their appearance in any of the sea-

1 See Appendix, page 354.

CH. IX. BIRDS. 139

lochs, such as Loch Emboli, is considered to fore-
tell severe weather.

116. The Gray Lag Goose breeds in Loch Mad-
die, Loch Laighal, Loch Urigil, etc. ; but I am
sorry to see that these fine birds have every chance
of being entirely driven away from their haunts.

117. The Bean Goose breeds on Loch Shin. [?]

118. The White-fronted Goose is a winter visitor,
and the rarest and handsomest species that fre-
quents this country.

119. The Brent Goose comes to most of the
inlets of the sea in immense numbers during the
winter : it is one of the best wild-fowl for the
table.

120. The Bernicle Goose, though an occasional
visitor, is much more rare than the last-named
species. The brent goose is more frequent on the
east coast, while the bernicle keeps to the western
side of the county.

121. The Sheldrake breeds very commonly about
the sandy parts of the coast.

122. The Pintail, a very beautiful bird, visits
this county in the winter.

123. The Common Mallard is everywhere to be
found, as is its miniature likeness,

124. The Teal, during the whole year.

125. The Widgeon breeds in a few localities —

140 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IX.

for instance, near Loch Naver : in the winter it is
one of the most numerous of all wild-fowl.

126. The Eider Duck breeds on some islands at
the entrance of the Kyle of Tongue.

127. The King Duck is seen in the same district,
but only rarely.

128. The Velvet Duck is in abundance during
the winter on the east coast.

129. The Common Pochard,

130. The Scaup Duck,

131. The Golden Eye, are all common during
the winter; the latter is said to breed here occa-
sionally : I saw a pair about the 1 5th of May in
Loch Laighal.

132. The long-tailed Duck is very numerous on
the east coast during the winter.

133. The Merganser breeds about some of the
lakes near Scowrie and elsewhere.

134. The Goosander also is not uncommon.

135. The Sclavonian Grebe, and

136. The Little Grebe, are permanent inhabit-
ants : the latter is to be found in most localities.

137. The Great Northern Diver frequents the
northern parts of the county. I saw this bird near
Durness about the 14th of May. The people
tell me that it is frequently seen about that
coast accompanied by a young one, apparently

CH. IX. BIRDS. 141

just hatched ; its nest, however, has not been
found.

138. The Black -throated Diver is gradually
diminishing in number, but still breeds in the
lakes of Assynt, Loch Laighal, and elsewhere.

139. The Red -throated Diver breeds also in
the northern parts of the county.

140. The Foolish Guillemot breeds in countless
numbers on the island of Handa and elsewhere.

141. The Black Guillemot is much rarer, but I
saw it near the same island in June.

142. The Puffin is also numerous in Handa,
etc. ; as is

143. The Razor-bill,

144. The Little Auk is a winter and occasional
visitor.

145. The Cormorant, and

146. The Shag, breed in many different places
along the coast. I saw great numbers of them
about Whiten Head, Handa, etc. etc.

147. The Gannet breeds on some rocks off the
northern coasts.

Of Terns I have seen the following varieties : —

148. The Roseate Tern.

149. The Common Tern.

150. The Arctic Tern.

151. The Lesser Tern;

and no doubt there are many other varieties.

142 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. IX.

152. The Black-headed Gull breeds on inland
lakes in great numbers.

153. The Kittiwake Gull breeds on the rocky
cliffs of Handa and elsewhere.

154. The Common Gull breeds also in great
numbers on the rocky coasts and on different
islands.

155. The Greater black-backed Gull, and

156. The Lesser black-backed Gull, breed in great
numbers on different lochs : I particularly observed
both kinds on Loch Laighal. No doubt many
other species of the sea-gull and skua, besides a
great variety of wild-fowl, visit this county at dif-
ferent seasons ; but I am determined only to enu-
merate those that I have seen myself. No part of
Britain, or indeed scarcely of Europe, is better
adapted for a resting-place for migratory birds on
their way to and from their more northern breeding-
places ; and the extensive lakes and wilds afford
shelter to many that are not generally known to
remain in Britain during the summer. The numer-
ous bays and inlets of the sea, leaving at low water
great tracts of sand and mud, afford food during
the winter for innumerable wild-fowl and waders.

Many of the finer kinds both of land and water-
birds certainly are becoming almost extinct, being
hunted down by both gamekeepers and egg-dealers,

CH. IX.

BIRDS.

143

the latter being frequently a set of mercenary and
ignorant men, deceived themselves and deceiving-
others as to the kind of eggs which they offer for
sale ; and, instead of furthering the knowledge of
natural history, rendering it more obscure by pass-
ing off one egg for another, and having recourse to
as many tricks as a horse-jockey in selling their
specimens, which are often bought by people who
have not the slightest knowledge of the natural
history of the bird whose eggs they fancy that they
are buying.

144 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. X.

CHAPTEE X.

Deer- Hounds — Deer Forest in Sutherlandshire — Effect of the
Forests on Deer — The Stag casting his Horns — Hinds and
Calves — Courage of the Hind — Poaching Shepherds — Value
of Horns — Fighting of Stags — Highland Forester — Breed of
Deer-Hounds.

While staying at the inn at Aultnaharrow, I saw
several brace of deer-hounds of the true old Scotch
breed. These dogs, which belonged to Lord Elles-
mere, were kept close to the inn, at the house of
one of his Lordship's foresters. The tract of country-
preserved as a deer forest comprises a most exten-
sive range of mountains, the best in all Scotland for
the purpose. Beaching away to the north-west and
west, the forest takes in corrie after corrie, and
mountain after mountain, of the most wild and
romantic character. Fitted, too, for scarcely any
other purpose than as a refuge for wild animals, the
most determined utilitarian could not say that the
ground was wasted, nor suggest a better use to
which to apply it. It is far too barren to make
sheep farming remunerative, and any other way of
attempting to make the mountains in that district
useful to mankind would be labour thrown away.

CH. X. DEER-FOREST. 145

In this fine range the red-deer daily increase in
number ; so much so, that I have no doubt that,
unless they are systematically shot down, they will,
in the course of some few years, degenerate in size
and beauty from the ground being overstocked ;
for, although there is plenty of room in the sur-
rounding wild mountains for the deer to distribute
and disperse themselves, still so much do they
dislike being disturbed, and so determinedly do
they adhere to the forests where neither sheep nor
shepherds annoy them, that while these quiet places
are overstocked, the deer are almost wholly drained
out of all the surrounding mountains. I speak here
only comparatively, for of course red-deer are to be
found almost everywhere throughout the county ;
still, all the sheep-farms have far fewer deer on them
than they had before the forest was made, notwith-
standing that the number of these animals is prob-
ably greater, on the whole, than it was then. Cer-
tain slopes and hill-sides, even close to the main
road, are never without deer, and the passer-by
seldom travels many miles without seeing some of
these noble animals. They seem used to the sight
of people on the road (although so few do travel
by it) ; and on a carriage coming into sight the
stag scarcely stops his feeding for a longer time

than is sufficient for him to take a good gaze at
vol. I. L

146 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. X.

his natural enemy, when he again continues his
rapid grazing, although perhaps not much more
than a rifle-shot from the roadside. In the middle
of the day the deer are seldom to be seen, except
by a practised eye, as they are then at rest and
lying quietly, with little more than their head and
neck above the rough heath. In the early morning
or towards evening they feed downwards towards
the grassy sides of the rivers and burns. In very
hot weather the stags, tormented by midges and
flies on the lower grounds, keep on the high moun-
tains and ridges, where they have the advantage
of every cool breeze that blows. Hardy as he
naturally must be, the stag does not seem to like
exposing himself more than is necessary to extremes
of heat and cold. In this respect the hinds seem
more hardy than their antlered lords. For some
time after they lose their horns in the beginning
of May the stags seem to feel helpless and unarmed,
retiring to out-of-the-way places, where they re-
main as quiet and stationary as they can, not
wandering far from their hiding-place, till their
horns having in some measure grown, they feel
more able to keep their place amongst their fellows.
I have often heard people affirm that they hide
their horns invariably on casting them, but this
is by no means the case ; the horns are constantly

CH. X. HINDS AND CALVES. 147

found ; I have frequently picked them up myself,
and have seen great numbers that have been found
on the hills. A man walking across a rugged and
extensive range of mountain cannot expect to find
very often an object so little conspicuous as a stag's
horn, unless he is a forester or keeper, and as such
living amongst the deer at all times. There is no
doubt, too, that deer have the habit of chewing and
breaking up horns or bones, or any substance of the
kind, that they find in their wanderings ; in the
same manner that cattle in a field will chew for
hours together a bone, old bit of leather, or any
other hard substance, to the neglect of the clover
or grass, or whatever food they may be surrounded
by. It is probable, also, that the deer trample
under the heather, in the course of then working
at it, any horn that comes in their way.

When about to calve, the hinds retire to the
most lonely and undisturbed places, where there is
little risk of their young meeting with enemies while
unable to escape. For a few days they appear to
keep them in these safe solitudes, visiting them little
during the daytime ; but as soon as the calves have
acquired a certain degree of strength, they become
the inseparable companions of their mothers. Where
the hind is, there is the calf following its dam over
hill and dale. At first they are covered with white

148 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. X.

marks, but, losing these, they are of a darkish brown,
and are well clothed with long hair by the approach
of the winter. Although not coming to full maturity
for several years, the growth of young deer is very
rapid for the first six or eight months. Did they
not acquire strength rather quickly in proportion to
their after growth, it would be impossible for them
to keep company with the hinds in their numerous
nights over mountainous and dangerous passes, im-
pelled onwards by the sight or scent of some enemy
real or imaginary. Eagles and foxes both make prey
of the newly-born calves ; though I am told that
the parent will defend her young courageously and
effectively against either of these enemies if she
happens to be at hand when they are attacked: her
manner of defence is by striking with her fore-
feet— a species of warfare in which the red-deer
hind is a most active enemy, and difficult to cope
with. I have seen one, when wounded and standing
in a burn, raise herself up and lash out with her
fore-feet (armed as they are with sharp and hard
hoofs) in a manner which made it a service of no
slight danger to approach her. Several times did a
hind in this manner strike at and knock under water
a dog of the most determined courage that I had
slipped at her ; and equally ready was she to kick
out with both her hind-legs at once, so that it was

CH. X. POACHING SHEPHERDS. 149

by no means safe or easy to get at her ; till at last
the dog, after being sadly knocked about, left the
water, and sprang upon the deer's back from an
overhanging rock, seizing her by the ear and then
by the throat in a manner that soon subdued the
poor animal. Having more than once seen a hind
defend herself most courageously in this manner, I
can easily believe the stories that I have been told
of their success in defending their young against fox
or eagle, notwithstanding the cunning of the former
and the almost irresistible swoop of the latter enemy.

Deer, from their size and strength, are secure
from the attacks of every other wild animal of the
country.

Notwithstanding the vigilance and care of the
foresters, who in this county are, I believe, all men
of honesty and experience, the shepherds manage to
kill many a deer at all seasons ; nor is it possible
for any number of keepers to prevent this entirely;
though they may be as watchful as possible, the
shepherd, from being constantly on the hill amongst
the deer, and knowing by experience all their haunts
at every time of day and at every season, has
advantages over the keeper that no vigilance of
the latter can counterbalance. A shepherd has for
some days, perhaps, observed that a particularly fine
stag, with noble head and in good condition, fre-

150 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. X.

quents some certain grassy burn to feed in. There
he grazes daily, going thither about four o'clock
every evening ; and having done so undisturbed
several times in succession, he becomes careless,
and on leaving the braeside on which he rests
throughout the day, he feeds rapidly down the burn-
side till he arrives at the favourite spot of grass.
The shepherd, knowing well that the deer will con-
tinue on this feeding-spot until disturbed, watches
his opportunity when the forester has taken some
other direction, or has not left his home, or, in fact,
when the coast is clear : he then takes his gun out
of the stock, and easily concealing the two parts
till he is safe in the solitudes of the mountain, he
betakes himself to some hiding-place within an
easy shot, and to leeward of the place which he
well knows the stag will visit at the feeding-time.
Having looked well to his copper cap or priming,
he waits patiently till the animal is within twenty
or thirty yards of him, when a handful of slugs or a
bullet settles the business. The four quarters are
then conveyed home as convenience and opportun-
ity suit. If the antlers are good, they are another
source of rjrofit, there being a ready sale for them
to some gun-maker or bird-stuffer, many of whom
have constant correspondence with the shepherds,
keepers, etc., for the purpose of buying deers' heads,

CH. X. VALUE OF HORNS. 151

birds' eggs, skins, etc., which they resell to visitors
at Inverness, or even to sportsmen who, taking the
stag's head to England with them, pass it off as
a trophy of their own skill and prowess. I have
known instances of this kind, although it is diffi-
cult to understand how a man can exhibit as his
own shooting, and nail up over his hall-door, a
stag's head which he has bought for three or
four pounds instead of shooting it, without being
ashamed to behold such a memento of his own
weakness and want of good faith.

In my opinion, the general run of the old stags'
heads in Sutherlandshire are the handsomest of
any in Scotland, in the way the horns are set on
the head and in the shape of the horns themselves.
The largest and oldest heads that I have seen in
that county form a fine, widely-stretched circle, the
tops of the antlers arching inwards towards each
other. I never myself saw horns with so fine a
spread and arch in any other county, though I do
not pretend to say that such may not be seen else-
where. A nobler sight than a herd of well-an tiered
stags standing clearly defined on the horizon, and
combined with the surrounding scenery and all the
et ccetcras of the country which they inhabit, can
scarcely be imagined. On the wide grassy plains
between Loch Shin and Aultnaharrow, and between

152 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. X.

Ben Hee and Ben Cleebrick, I have generally seen
a number of hinds near the roadside ; but the stags,
or at any rate the older stags, keep higher up the
mountains.

These plains must be excellent ground for run-
ning the deer-hounds on, and I wished much that I
could have remained long enough in the country
to see some of the dogs run a deer ; but being
summoned at the time to England, I was obliged
to depart without even the treat of passing some
days in the deer-forest, notwithstanding the Duke
of Sutherland's kind permission. Of course I
should have gone " unarmed" it being as early as
the middle of June ; but I am happy to say that
(although sportsman enough in my way) I can
enjoy watching and making acquaintance with
the actions and habits of so fine an animal as the
stag quite as much as endeavouring to kill him.
Without pretending to disown my love of deer-
stalking, I find an enjoyment in watching unseen,
and patiently, the animals in a manner which one
could not do, supposing oneself to be rifle in" hand ;
for then, such is the passion of mankind for the
chase, that I fancy few people exist who would not
be more intent on killing the stag than in quietly
looking at him. In the present instance, however,
I had little leisure for even looking at the deer.

CH. X. HIGHLAND FORESTER. 153

There is a constant succession of fine mountains
from Assynt down to near Dunrobin Castle, all fre-
quented more or less by deer ; and the gamekeeper
at the castle told me that they came down into the
woods close to his house, where, from good feeding
and quiet, they became very fine and fat, getting
into condition very early in the season. I have fre-
quently seen deer late in the evenings fight furi-
ously with their horns, till the noise of their antlers
striking against each other sounded far and wide.
The two hostile stags meet face to face, and, charg-
ing straight at each other like two rams, each
endeavoured to turn the flank of the other as if to
get a chance of goring him. The weakest, how-
ever, seemed always to have a prudent knowledge
of when he was overmatched, and, having leaped
quickly aside to avoid being gored, he generally
retreated without injury. Sometimes, when equally
matched, they fight together in this manner for a
long time, making a great rattling with their horns.

Deer-stalking with the Sutherland Highlander
seems an almost invincible passion. His constant
thoughts and dreams are about the mountain corrie
and the stag : get him into conversation on any
subject, and by some means it invariably comes
round to deer and deer-stalking. He has stories
without end, handed down from father to son, of

154

TOUR IN SUTHERLAND.

CH. X.

wonderful shots, and dogs that never failed to
pull down their stag. On most points silent and
reserved, on this one he is talkative and eloquent.
No man, too, has a greater taste for, and a more
correct conception of, the beauties of nature :
he points out to you with admiration the very
mountain slope, the very come that you have
already marked down in your mind as surpass-
ingly grand. At first you may think him a
reserved and rather morose man, but when he
finds out that you are not only a brother of
the craft, but also a fervent admirer of the
natural beauties of his favourite lochs and corries,
his heart opens, and he will go through fire or
water to serve you : his expression of face alters,
he takes you under his protection, and leads you
to points of view which you would have travelled
fifty miles to see ; and, in fact, enters into all
your wishes and thoughts with tact and eager
desire to please you. Mercenary and greedy as,
I am sorry to say, Highlanders in many parts of
the country have become, I did not find this the
case in Sutherland. The shootings not having
been let much, the country -people are not yet
spoiled, but still retain, in a great measure, the
natural good feeling, the air of high-bred civility,
of which most mountaineers have a far greater

CH. X. HIGHLAND DEER- STALKER. 155

share than men of the same rank of life brought
up in the Lowlands.

Though a Highland deer-stalker may sometimes
break loose and have a day's bout at whisky, he is
not, generally speaking, at all an intemperate man :
two weaknesses he may have — snuff and smoke ;
the mull, with its spoon of wood or eagle's quill
(that not a grain may be lost), and the well-smoked
and short clay pipe, are his constant companions.
If he misses his stag after a severe stalk, he takes a
few whiffs to console himself: if he succeeds, and has
his hand already on the prostrate body of the object
of his pursuit, the pipe comes into play. The
first thing in the morning, while looking from the
shealing door to see which way the wind blows,
there is the pipe between his teeth : and when re-
turning from his day's work he smokes the pipe
of retrospection, while he calls to mind all the
different hits and failures of the pursuit. Having
reached home, fed himself and dogs, and had his
moderate allowance of whisky, twenty to one but
he walks out, pipe in mouth, to see which way the
clouds are drifting, so as to speculate on the weather
of the morrow, or perhaps to listen to the nocturnal
cries of the birds and animals of the mountain or
loch. You seldom see him fill his pipe ; it seems
ready charged, always fit for action, and also self-

156 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. X.

extinguishing in some inexplicable manner ; as on
your asking him a question suddenly when out on
the hill, if smoking, ten to one hut he puts the
pipe, with red-hot tobacco in it, at once into his
waistcoat pocket, where it dies a natural death in
an innocent manner that I would recommend no
one else to expect his pipe to imitate.

Summer or winter the Highland deer-stalker
puts on his plaid when going out, and, if he does
not carry a gun, has in his hand some favourite
stick (or " staff," as he calls it) made of hazel or
juniper, and cut during some excursion to the low
country. His telescope, though good, generally
refuses to be seen distinctly through by any eyes
but his own ; somehow no one else can hit off the
focus. Though caring little for grouse-shooting,
he is usually a fisherman, and can throw a fly
well enough on occasion, and a present of salmon
flies goes straight to his heart.

To return to Aultnaharrow. I was much pleased
with the kennel of deer-hounds in charge of the
forester there ; some of them fine, powerful dogs,
fit to pull down any stag. This breed of dogs,
which a few years ago was almost extinct, or at any
rate only in the hands of a very few Highland
proprietors, is now rapidly increasing, not only in
numbers, but also in size, strength, and other good

CH. X. BREED OF DEER-HOUNDS. 157

qualities. The three finest dogs of the kind that I
ever saw were at Foyers, on Loch Ness ; and I be-
lieve that they were equally admired by a gentleman
far more fit to judge of them than I am, Mr. Grant
of Glenmorriston, who was kind enough to take me
to see them. The two young dogs were undoubt-
edly among the finest of their race, for with the
strength of a lion they were made as much for
speed, and as compactly put together, as the highest-
bred greyhound at Newmarket. They had all the
points and qualifications of a thorough-bred grey-
hound, from their head to their round cat-like feet.
Indeed I suppose that, owing to neither trouble nor
expense having been for some time. past spared
by many English sportsmen in improving this breed
of dogs, the deer-hound is now to be found in as
great perfection as ever it was.

Like other greyhounds these dogs do not con-
tinue fit for service for more than six years. The
violent pace and the strains they are liable to from
the nature of the ground they run on, and the
strength of the animal they pursue, all combine to
make them show symptoms of old age at an earlier
time of life than most other hunting dogs. In
rearing these dogs it is absolutely necessary that
they should have nearly constant liberty, without
which they neither come to their full strength nor

158 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. X.

development. At the same time they are sadly
inclined to sheep killing and other mischief : most
dogs learn this fault at first by being allowed to go
about amongst very young lambs, which are in-
variably tempting objects of pursuit to wild and
mischievously-disposed puppies.

I am much inclined to crossing the deer-hound
with the mastiff or fox-hound. The former I pre-
fer as giving strength and determination in seizing
and holding a stag. This cross, too, imparts to the
disposition of the dog a kind of bloodthirstiness
which is invaluable in tracking and pursuing
wounded deer, and this is the principal use of all
deer-hounds. No forest will bear too frequent
coursing ; the deer will take themselves off to
quieter ground without fail, being far more effectu-
ally scared away by the hound than by the rifle.

<^2S*£

CH. XI. MODES OF REACHING THE COUNTY. 159

CHAPTER XL

Agriculture in Sutherlandshire — Facilities of reaching the
County — Caledonian Canal — Travelling in Sutherland —
Inns, excellent management of — Lairg — Tongue — Durness
— Scowrie — Inchnadamph — Inveran — Conclusion of Suther-
landshire.

I will now finish my sketches (hurried and im-
perfect as they are) of Sutherlandshire by recom-
mending my readers, who may wish for a week's
enjoyment, to follow my example and travel round
that county ; there are few who would not derive
much pleasure and amusement by doing so. The
agriculturist and improver of land would be in-
terested by seeing the different stages of husbandry
in the county, from the perfectly- cultivated farms
and cattle of the southern parts, to the rude and
primitive method of raising small crops of oats
amongst the rocks of the north and north-west,
where the ground is turned up by ancient and
quaintly-shaped substitutes for spades — ploughing
being quite impracticable in many places ; at the
same time that about Tongue, near as it is to the
extreme northern point of Britain, both the mode

160 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. XI.

of cultivation and the crops would do credit to
many a southern county of England.

The sheep, black cattle, ponies, etc., in many
parts of the county, are not to be surpassed in
Britain. The naturalist, whether his tastes incline
to botany, ornithology, or any other line of this
interesting pursuit, will find ample means of en-
riching his cabinets ; while I can safely promise
the lover of fine and varied scenery a treat that
would repay him for a far more difficult and
weary journey.

There are three ways of reaching Inverness from
Edinburgh : by the steamers which ply along the
east coast; by the Highland road, which passes
through the centre of the country ; or by Aber-
deen : the latter is the least interesting road, as it
passes through the bleakest and least beautiful part
of Scotland. The Edinburgh and Inverness steamer,
the " Duke of Pdchmond," is comfortably enough
arranged, and makes good way through the water,
but the number of stoppages at different ports is
tiresome to the traveller whose object is to reach
the end of his journey. The Highland road has a
paucity of public conveyances on it at present, but
passes through a fine and characteristic range of
country. I have occasionally taken the circuitous
route going from Edinburgh to Glasgow, and

CH. XI. MODES OF REACHING THE COUNTY. 161

thence up the Caledonian Canal to Inverness ; and

this is, after all, though apparently rather longer,

much the most interesting and the least fatiguing

manner of reaching Inverness. Not being exposed

to rough water, the passengers by these steamboats

are able to enjoy the beauties of the whole route ;

and they are constant and varied throughout the

voyage. Independent of the very great natural

beauty of the country through which the canal

passes, there is a constant succession of objects of

historical and legendary interest : while the captains

of the boats are well versed in the history of these

localities, and also are most obliging and attentive

to all strangers, in pointing out and explaining

everything that is worth seeing. The managers

and proprietors of these steamers at Glasgow are

most ready and obligingly anxious to attend to the

comfort and amusement of travellers, and to aid

them in their movements in any direction, in the

most easy and economical manner. No complaint

(if one is ever necessary), made against any of the

servants of the company, for neglect of their duty,

etc., will pass unheeded by the proprietors. In

fact, the tourist can scarcely be in better hands,

or take a trip that will repay him better than

that by the Caledonian Canal.

From Inverness to Tain or Invergordon the way
vol. 1. M

162 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. XI.

is easy by land or sea. Once there, the traveller
in Sutherlandshire has two ways of going through
the county — either by hiring a horse and suitable
machine, or by travelling by the mail-carriage, a
kind of open phaeton, which takes (as well as I
remember) several passengers : this vehicle goes
twice a week northwards, and as often south. I
rather prefer the more independent way of hiring
a horse, which ought to be done for four or five
shillings a day, exclusive of his keep. Although
hay is not always to be had, I never failed getting
good oats at the inns, and good grass, so that a
horse is never at a loss. From Tain or Inver-
o-ordon the best route to the north of Sutherland
is to Ardgye, near Bonar Bridge ; a good inn and
excellent landlord. From thence to Lairg is eleven
miles.

At Lairg is another excellent inn, in a most
beautiful situation. Lairg to Aultnaharrow, twenty-
two miles ; thence to Tongue, seventeen miles ;
Tongue to Durness, eighteen miles, with a rest-
ing-inn at Heilam Ferry, or Loch Emboli, about
half-way.

At Durness I should be content to pass many a
day. The inn is one of the best in Sutherland,
and the landlady, Mrs. Eoss, makes her visitors as
comfortable as they can desire ; at the same time,

CH. XL EXCELLENT INNS. 163

her charges are as moderate as the most econo-
mical traveller could wish. The country round
Durness is full of magnificently wild scenery, and
the sheltered little sandy bays afford excellent
bathing.

Durness, by Bhiconnich, to Scowrie, is about
twenty -six miles. Scowrie should be another
resting-place : there is much to see, and a good
inn. For my own part, I have a most pleasing
recollection of Scowrie, and of the hospitality of
Mr. Mlvor (the Duke of Sutherland's manager
in that district).

Scowrie to Inchnadamph, by Kyleska Ferry, still
takes the traveller through a country every step of
which is most splendidly wild and picturesque.
Inchnadamph Inn, at the foot of Ben More, and at
the head of Loch Assynt, is another good resting-
place. Loch Inver, four miles from Inchnadamph,
has also an excellent inn, and is well worth ooing
to see. To Inveran Inn, on the Shin river, from
Inchnadamph is thirty-two miles ; but with two
inns on the way, Altnagalcanach and Oykel, at both
of which tolerable accommodation may be had.
Inveran is a small house, but as cleanly and com-
fortably kept as any inn in Britain. I never knew
an angler on the Shin river who did not say the
same of the inn at Inveran ; the landlady, in her

164 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. XL

homely " motherly " way, makes her guests so com-
fortable that they always leave her with regret.

All the inns on the Duke of Sutherland's
property (almost without exception) are well kept,
cleanly, and moderate in their charges, to a degree
that the most suspicious and fastidious cockney
traveller can find no fault with ; and there is none
of that paltry imposition which one meets with so
frequently in remote places in other parts of the
Highlands, where a stranger is looked upon as fair
game for plunder.

My tastes have generally led me to the north
and north-west of Sutherland, but there is also
much to interest and much to see in the eastern
parts of the county. Going by Dornoch and
Golspie, both excellent inns, thence along the
coast to Brora and Helmsdale, two fishing-colonies,
and turning northwards to Bighouse, the traveller
can either return by Tongue or by Strathnaver, a
beautiful green strath, which takes him to Aultna-
harrow.

My description of the different routes is short
and imperfect, as I do not pretend to write a
" road " or " guide " book ; but I simply give this
sketch as the result of my own note-book, hoping
that it may be of use to any one wishing to see
the most interesting county in Britain, and one

CH. XI. END OF RAMBLES IN THE COUNTY. 165

of the least visited. Koss-shire, Inverness-shire,
etc., lie more in the way of grouse-shooters and
sportsmen, and are consequently more known and
written about than Sutherland, although the latter
can be travelled through with more ease, comfort,
and economy than either of the other named
counties.

I must conclude my rambles in Sutherland, but
hope that some more able and scientific pen than
mine will be found to describe the objects of natural
history and of interest in the county, which I have
merely glanced at. These notes I now commit to
the public with all their errors and imperfections,
hoping that the fact of the incidents and remarks
contained in them, being the result of the personal
and unprejudiced observation of one more skilled
in using the rifle than the pen, will induce the
reader to excuse their faults, and to look more
favourably on my scribbling than any merit of the
notes themselves may deserve.

FIELD-NOTES FOE THE YEAK

FIELD -NOTES FOE THE YEAE.
CHAPTEK XII.

JANUARY.

Wood-pigeons — Feeding of Widgeon and Mallards — Wild-fowl
— Water -rail — Wild -duck shooting — Change of colour in
Trout.

Duking the month of January the wood-pigeons
commence feeding greedily on the turnips. They
do not, in my opinion, dig into the roots with their
bills, unless rabbits or rooks have been before them
to break the skin of the turnip. In fact the wood-
pigeon's bill is not at all adapted for cutting into a
frozen and unbroken turnip. The crops of those
which I kill at this season are full of the leaf of
the turnip ; and in feeding on these, they appear
not to attack the centre or heart of the green
leaf, but to eat wholly the thin part of it. The
wood-pigeon feeds more particularly on the leaf of
the Swedish turnip, as being more succulent.
In the garden I see the titmice searching for, and

170 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XII.

feeding on, the nests and eggs of the common garden
spider. The little blue tomtit is of great service
to gardeners, as a destroyer of many kinds of insects
which would increase to a most injurious extent
without the aid of these prying little fellows.

The thrushes begin to sing, and the corn-bunting
and yellow-hammer to utter their spring note.

In shooting along the bay and the streams, etc.,
which run into it, I have been astonished this year
(1846) by the numbers of a new visitor to this
country, the little auk. This bird, though so rarely
seen here, appears to have been driven over this
season in great flocks ; they are everywhere, and
so tame as to be easily knocked down with sticks
and stones.

The widgeon and teal have now nearly acquired
their full plumage ; occasionally I bring home a
drake- widgeon in his perfect beauty of feather, but
very few of them have entirely put off their sober
brown. The mallard has for some time been in
high beauty, and is most valuable to the dresser
of salmon-flies.

I see the widgeon come regularly now at the ebb
of the tide, to feed on the grassy banks which are
left uncovered by the receding of the water. They
first feed as they swim, round the edges of the
small islands and banks ; but when the tide begins

JAN. WILD-DUCK — LITTLE AUK. 171

to recede, the birds come out on the banks and
graze like geese.

This season the wild-ducks have found out a new
kind of food — the remains of the diseased potatoes
which have been left in the fields. My attention
was first called to their feeding on them by observ-
ing that my domesticated wild-ducks had managed
to dig well into a heap of half-rotten potatoes, which
had been put partly under ground, and then covered
over with a good thickness of earth, as being unfit
for pigs or any other animal. However, the wild-
ducks had scented them out, and, although well
supplied with food, they had dug into the heap in all
directions, feeding greedily on the rotten potatoes ;
in fact, leaving their corn for them. I then fouDd
that the wild-ducks from the bay flew every evening
to the potato-fields to feed on the roots which had
been left; and so fond were they of them, that I often
saw the ducks rise from the fields in the middle of
the day — in the evening it was always a sure place
to get a brace or two. The mallard is very omnivor-
ous at this season : in the crop of one killed were
oats, small seed, shrimps, and potatoes, all the pro-
duce of his researches during the preceding night.

We find the remains of the little auk every-
where ; some I have seen amongst the furze bushes,
etc., at the distance of fully four miles from the sea.

172 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XII.

They appeared to have been driven there by the
wind, and to have died entangled in such unaccus-
tomed ground. The remains which I found did
not appear to have been brought by crows, or any
animal of prey.

During the present severe frost I am much
amused with the long-tail ducks, who at every flow
of the tide swim into the bay, and often some way up
the river, uttering their most musical and singular
cry, which at a distance resembles the bugle-like
note of the wild-swan more than anything else.

As long as there is no collection of floating ice,
the bay is very full of birds, and the shores are
enlivened with the large flocks of oyster-catchers,
red-shanks, and an infinite variety of other waders.
The red-shank begins now to utter the peculiar
whistle which indicates the return of spring : early
as it is, too, the jack-snipes, red-wings, fieldfares,
etc., seem to return northwards, as I see great
numbers of these and other birds, which had for the
last month or two disappeared, having, probably,
then gone southwards.

The little water-rail seems to be a great wanderer.
I find its track, and the bird itself, in the most un-
likely places ; for instance, I put up one in a dry
furze field, and my retriever caught another in a
hedge, at some distance from the water : I took the

JAN. WILD -DUCK. 173

latter bird home alive to show to my children.
When I took him out of my pocket, in which most
unaccustomed situation he had been for two hours,
this strange little creature looked about him with
the greatest nonchalance possible, showing fight at
everything that came near him ; and when, after
having gratified the curiosity of the children, we
turned him loose in a ditch of running water, he
went away jerking up his tail, and not seeming to
hurry himself, or to be in the least disconcerted.

In hard frosts during this month I get a great
number of wild-ducks by waiting for an hour (the
last hour of light) near some open place in the
lochs, or streams, where they come to feed. On
my way home from shooting, when I have been in
the direction of the swamps, I often do this, and
generally succeed in filling my bag with mallards
and widgeon.

Just before sunset I take up my position in
the midst of two or three furze bushes, within
easy shot of where a small stream runs into one
of the lakes, keeping the water constantly open.
Having given my retriever the biscuit which I
always carry for him on these cold days, I light
my pipe (the great comfort of the patient wild-
fowl shooter), and look out towards the bay for
the mallards. The bay is nearly half a mile off,

174 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XII.

but I can see the ducks between me and the
sky almost as soon as they leave it. At first a
solitary pair or two come, quietly and swiftly, pro-
bably making their way to some favourite spring
farther inland. However, with the help of a car-
tridge, I bring clown a brace from a great height as
they pass over ; sometimes tumbling on the ice of
the loch behind me, they are nearly split in two ;
sometimes, when winged, they fall in the rushy
stream, and give the retriever no small trouble and
cold before he gets them ; however, he always suc-
ceeds, and having brought the bird and received his
reward of ship-biscuit, he lies down again, but with
eyes and ears all intent on what is going on. The
sea-gull or heron may pass, and he takes no notice
of them ; but the moment that a wild-duck's quack,
or the whistle of his wings, is heard, the dog's ears
erect themselves, and he watches my face with a
look of most inquiring eagerness. I hear the wild-
swans "trumpeting" on the sea, but know that
they are not very likely to come where I am placed.
Presently, however, a brace of teal pitch suddenly,
and unexpectedly, within a few yards of me, having
flitted in from behind.

I kill the drake, but cannot cret a shot at the
duck, as she flies low, and the smoke hanging heavily
in the calm evening, prevents my seeing her. How-

JAN. WILD -DUCK. 175

ever, all at once the mallards begin to fly from the
sea, and for half an hour or less I have to load and
fire as fast as I can, as they fly over. I prefer
shooting them on the wing, for if I let them pitch
in the water, my dog has a swim every time I kill
one, and gets half-dead with ice and frozen snow.

The mallards generally fly in from the sea rapidly,
and at no great height; but it requires some practice
to kill them, as their flight is much quicker than
it appears, and they require a hard blow to kill
them dead. If wounded only, they fly off, and
dropping at some distance, I can seldom get them
that night, owing to the approaching darkness.
Sometimes my retriever marks the direction of a
wounded duck and gets it, but generally they are
lost, and serve only to feed the foxes, who seem to
hunt for maimed birds regularly round the lakes.

Having killed ten mallards and a teal, it becomes
too dark to shoot any more, although I still hear
their wings as they fly over my head. Besides
which, I have nearly three miles to walk ; and my
keeper, who has also killed two or three, had, before
we commenced duck-shooting, sundry animals to
carry, the produce of my day's wanderings. We
have to walk home, too, there being no road near
these lakes. So, after I have refilled my pipe, and
the old fellow has recharged his nose with a spoon-

176 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XII.

ful of snuff, we shoulder our game and set off.
Eight or ten fat mallards, too, are no slight load
over a rough track in the dark, so we keep the sands
as far as possible, listening to the different cries of
the sand-pipers, curlews, and numerous kinds of
wild-fowl who feed on the shallows and sandbanks
during the night-time. Occasionally in the moon-
light we catch a glimpse of the mallards as they rise
from some little stream or ditch which runs into the
bay, or we see a rabbit hurrying up at our approach
from the sea-weed, which he had been nibbling.

In this way, with very little trouble, and often
much nearer home, I can generally reckon on
getting some few brace of wild-ducks in the winter :
shifting my place of ambush according to the
weather, the wind, etc., changes in which cause
the birds to take to different feeding-places.

Trout are not nearly so tender a fish as is gener-
ally supposed. At the farm-yard here they have
two trout, about six inches or more in length, living
in the wooden trough out of which the cart-horses
drink. They were caught in the river in August,
and throughout all the severe frost have lived, and
apparently continued in good condition, although
sometimes in passing I have seen the water in the
trough so firmly frozen, and the ice apparently
reaching so low, that the trout had scarcely room to

JAN. CHANGE OF COLOUR IN TROUT. 177

swim. When fresh water is put in they always come
to the place where it is poured, and seem to look for
any particles of food or any insects that may come
in with it. They feed on worms which the boys
often bring them, and which they take immediately,
without fear. The change of colour in fish is very
remarkable, and takes place with great rapidity.
Put a living Mack burn trout into a white basin of
water, and it becomes, within half an hour,1 of a light
colour. Keep the fish living in a white jar for some
days, and it becomes absolutely white ; but put it
into a dark-coloured or black vessel, and although on
first being placed there the white-coloured fish shows
most conspicuously on the black ground, in a quarter
of an hour it becomes as dark-coloured as the bottom
of the jar, and consequently difficult to be seen.
No doubt this facility of adapting its colour to the
bottom of the water in which it lives is of the
greatest service to the fish in protecting it from its
numerous enemies. All anglers must have observed
that in every stream the trout are very much of the
same colour as the gravel or sand on which they
live : whether this change of colour is a voluntary
or involuntary act on the part of the fish I leave
it for the scientific to determine.

1 In the case of some fish the change is perceptible in five
minutes.

VOL. I. N

178 FIELD -NOTES FOR THE YEAR. FEB.

CHAPTEE XIII.

FEBRUARY.

Change of colour in Stoats — Affection of Otters for their young
— Roe-hunting — Attachment of Birds to their Mates — Food
of Fieldfares during Snow— Widgeon — Wild-fowl shooting
at Spynie — Incidents in shooting — Winged Swan — Cats —
Food of Wild-geese — Brent Goose.

February 2d. — February is always with us the
most snowy month of the year. I find that, in my
journal for the first week of this month, during
several years, it is generally marked down that the
country is clothed in snow. The quantity of floating
snow and ice which comes down the river fills the
bay, and sends the wild-fowl to some less dreary
part of the country. Occasionally a golden eye or
long-tailed duck pitches in some clear spot of the
river, but is almost immediately driven out again
by the floating ice. In some places the course of
the river is quite altered, being choked up by the
accumulation of ice on the shallows, and the water
takes some new run. What becomes of the fish
during this kind of weather ?

The rooks dig deep into the snow, and plough

FEB. STOATS — OTTERS. 179

up the young wheat in great quantities with their
strong bills. The stoats are now pure white in
almost every instance, although I shot one on
the 3d of this month who had only very partially
acquired his winter colour. My rabbit beagles ran
him for a long time full cry on some rough ground.
Whenever the stoat went into a rabbit -hole I
turned him out again with a ferret, in this way
running him till I killed him.

While the river is in this state of confusion
with ice, etc., I see that the otters take themselves
to the unfrozen ditches and springs to hunt for eels
and flounders, which fish they feed on apparently
with great perseverance, if one can judge by the
distance they hunt for them in the snow. The
otter, judging from the ground he goes over, must
commence moving as soon as it is dark, and con-
tinue his hunting till nearly daylight.

Notwithstanding the shyness of the otter, this
animal is very determined in the defence of its
young ones, and boldly confronts a person who
takes one of them up. My keeper tells me that he
has seen an old otter feeding her young with fish :
the two young ones were sitting on a fiat stone at
the edge of the burn when their parent brought
them a good-sized trout. They immediately both
seized the fish, pulling and tearing at it like two

180 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIII.

bull-dog puppies. At last they came to a pitched
battle with each other, biting, squealing, and tug-
ging, and leaving the trout to its fate. On this the
old one interfered, and making them quiet, gave the
trout to one of them as his own. The other young
one, on seeing the parent do this, no longer inter-
fered, but sat quietly looking on, till the old otter
(who in the meantime had renewed her fishing)
came back with a large trout for it also.

When she brings a fish to the shore for her young
ones, she calls them by a kind of loud whistling
cry. Altogether this is a most interesting animal,
graceful in its movements, and in salmon rivers
not nearly so destructive and injurious as he is
supposed to be, feeding on eels, flounders, and trout
far more than on salmon : in such situations he
is most unjustly persecuted.

The roe now are in perfect condition, and I find
the snow does not in the least spoil the scent in
hunting them with beagles. It is a very amusing
kind of shooting where the woods are sufficiently
broken and interspersed with open ground, so as to
enable one to see both roe and hounds pretty often.
In drawing the large woods I am often annoyed by
the hounds going off after a fox, who generally leads
them straight away for several miles, tires the little
beagles out, and finally escapes into his earth with-

FEB. ROE-HUNTING. 181

out getting shot : but occasionally he pays for his
depredations, notwithstanding his cunning.

Soon after throwing off in one of the large covers

near the sea, the hounds begin to find the cold

scent of roe, and gradually working up to the

thickets, often start the animal in view. Away

they then go, making the woods echo again with

their deep tones, the younger dogs taking the lead.

The roe at first tries to avoid leaving the first

division of wood in which he is found, but on the

hounds sticking to him, he crosses some wide open

heather and swamp to the higher grounds. Here

the trees are older, with little underwood ; so after

a rattling run through all this, I can reckon on

their crossing the swamps again to the thickets,

where the buck was first found. He comes to the

head of the brae and stands listening to the hounds,

carefully examining the wide flats of heath, wood,

and swamp below him. The hounds come nearer

and nearer, and still the buck seems unwilling

to cross the open ground. At last the dogs are

close to him, and then only he descends the bank,

springing over the juniper, which is frequently six

feet high, the staunch little pack threading their way

through it. Across they go, and over the swamps,

the buck springing from hillock to hillock wherever

he can find footing. The beagles make their way

182

FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIII.

wonderfully, often in view, but as often tumbling
into the holes of water which they sometimes can
scarcely get out of; however, I am generally at
hand to help them, and once again on terra firma,
off they go headed by old " Durwood," who begins
now to think of killing. Straight through the
thicket where we first found, across a wide tract of
smaller and more open wood, they run without a
moment's check, startling the blackcocks, who,
rising as the hounds pass, perch on the summits of
the fir-trees, looking down with wonder at what is
going on. Away goes the roe, not fifty yards ahead
of his persevering little followers, and they are now
all in a wide tract of fir-wood, with the rankest
heather in it that I ever saw: straight through this
they go to the very sea-shore, putting up the curlews
as they skirt the sands. But it is of no use ; the
beagles become more eager every moment, and after
half an hour's hard running round this tract near
the shore, the buck seems suddenly to change his
mind, and turns directly inland again, at a sharp
angle to his course. A short, but very short check
ensues ; the hounds are soon in full cry again, and
after pressing him hard through the cover, he is
driven to some sandy hillocks in the midst of the
wilderness — and here comes the trial of the hounds.
Up and down, and round and round every one of

FEB. ROE-HUNTING. 183

these does the roe go at a foot's pace, but managing
to keep always out of view ; by this he recovers
wind ; and, going slowly over the dry sand, leaves
as little scent as possible.

It won't do, however : the beagles, headed by the
old dog, stick to his track, and wind in and out the
hillocks after him, keeping the scent in a manner
that is quite incredible. Away goes the buck
again to try a new scheme. He suddenly dashes
across a wide opening and gets to some high close
furze : through tins he winds his way, followed,
however, by the relentless hounds, who, regardless
of rabbits, etc., stick to his scent, although it is
getting colder and colder. The evening is coming
on, and the frost is becoming severer. The rabbits,
too, help to put the dogs out. But the roe is
viewed as he passes out of the furze, and we run
him over some high hillocks which have great
clumps of furze on them. Here again we sud-
denly come to a check ; but, after searching some
time in vain for his track or scent, I unexpectedly
find his footmark in a deep dry drain which divides
the pasturage from the wooded wilderness. There
is no mistaking it. So I call the dogs, who, tired
and stiff as they are, come joyfully to the holloa.
At first they only sniff in an uncertain manner up
the drain ; but at last the youngest hound gives

184 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIII.

tongue at a spot where some grass or heather had
retained the scent longer than elsewhere, and they
are all soon again in full cry. I still keep with the
hounds to help and encourage them, when presently
I hear a shot, and rightly guess that my friend,
whom I had left shivering long ago in a pass, had
killed the roe. He turned out to be a fine buck ;
so after paunching him, and rewarding the dogs
with blood and liver, etc. etc., which they wait
patiently for, not attempting to tear the animal
itself, we get it conveyed to the place where I
had left my car.

Passing through a wood on our way, the old
hound, who was not coupled, suddenly threw up
his nose, and before I could prevent him was off in
full cry into the cover. I managed to stop the
rest of the dogs, not wishing them to have any more
running, as they were all tired out, and went alone
to get back Durwood. From his tone I soon knew
that it was a fox he was after, as when hunting this
animal his cry was always different from what it
was when on the scent of a roe. I found it of no
use going through the cover; so I waited in the
wide road towards which he seemed coming. Pre-
sently, quick as lightning, and without the slightest
noise, a very large dog-fox sprang into the road.
He snuffed the air right and left with an eager look,

FEB. LARGE FOX KILLED. 185

but seemed not to observe me, for I was standing
quite still close to the trunk of a birch-tree. He
then listened to the hound; and finding that he was
going eastward, the fox came trotting up the road
directly towards me. When within about eighty
yards he suddenly stopped, and seemed to suspect
my presence. I had had my gun up to my shoulder
for some time; and the moment he stopped I pulled
the trigger, trusting to a B. B. cartridge, notwith-
standing the distance. He immediately began
tumbling about, dancing on his head, and springing
into the air. I ran up to give him the contents
of the other barrel, which was loaded with small
shot, but he had disappeared ; however, with the
help of the hound, who had now come up, I found
him within twenty yards of the road. He was shot
in the chest, and was in the very act of giving up the
ghost when we came to him. In this country all
ways of killing foxes are considered fair, as hunting
is out of the question; and if they are not kept down
they destroy every kind of game, lambs, and poultry.
Feb. 8. — I shot a female pochard to-day, one out
of a large flock : the rest, of course, all flew away.
But presently a male bird, probably the mate of the
one I had killed, came flying back from the lake to
which the flock had gone, and after passing once or
twice low over the place where I had shot her, he

186 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIII.

pitched on the water and swam about, searching
eagerly for his lost companion. He then went off
to the flock again ; but soon returned a second time
to look for the hen. Three times did he go and
return in the same manner, till at last he seemed
to give it up as hopeless.

I have observed the same attachment to their
mates in common wild-ducks, teal, swans, etc., as
well as in many other birds. I remember an
instance of a hen grouse being caught by the leg
in a common vermin trap which had been set for
ravens. It happened that the trap was not looked
at till late the following day, when we found that
the cock grouse had brought and laid close to his
unfortunate mate a quantity of young heather
shoots : they were enough to have nearly filled a
hat, and the poor bird must have been employed
many hours in collecting them. I cannot express
how grieved I was at the hen having been caught.

Great numbers of fieldfares come down during
the snowy weather to the fields to feed on the
turnips. They dig holes into the roots to an extent
that astonished me. I shot two or three. They
are very fat ; but smell and taste so very strongly
of turnips that they are quite uneatable.

The widgeons leave the bay, which is nearly
covered with ice, and feed on the clover -fields,

FEB. WIDGEON IN LOCH SPYNIE. 187

digging under the snow with their bills to get at
the herbage. I never saw them do so before in
this county; indeed it is very seldom that the snow
in Morayshire remains long enough on the ground,
at least in the district near the sea, to annoy the
wild-fowl to any extent.

While the snow is soft and newly fallen, the
rabbits seldom go fifty yards from their seat of the
day before, and constantly return to the same bush.

About the middle of this month I was shooting,
with Captain Cumming, at the Loch of Spynie,
which I considered to be about the best loch in the
North for wild-fowl shooting. Its situation is ex-
cellent ; and being for the most part shallow, and
covered with grass, rushes, and tall reeds, it is
perfectly adapted in every way for sheltering and
feeding all sorts of wild-fowl ; they resort there in
incredible numbers, and of every kind, from the
swan to the teal. When, in the evening, we took up
position near the old potato-fields, we generally
killed several mallards, as they feed constantly on
these roots.

The widgeon in this loch are remarkably fine,
and seem to come early into good plumage. There
would appear to be a great proportion of drakes in
the flocks of these birds, as, out of ten widgeon
killed there was only one duck. The flight of

188 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIII.

widgeon in the evening, as they leave the deeper
parts of the lake for the grassy margin, is very
amusing. When they first rise, and before we can
see them, we hear their peculiar whistle ; and they
almost immediately appear flying in small com-
panies with great swiftness to their destination.
This whistling sound, which they utter during their
flight, is quite different from their cry while swim-
ming and playing on the water. It requires a very
quick eye and a good retriever to bag many birds
in this twilight shooting ; but Captain Cumming,
alone, killed fourteen mallards and a widgeon one
evening while I was there. This was excellent
work, considering that it was only for a short time
during the dusk that he could shoot, that they were
all single shots, and that every bird had to be
retrieved out of water overgrown with rushes, etc.
The widgeon have already begun to fly in pairs.

In the middle of February the peewits begin to
appear here. The exact day depends chiefly on
the state of the weather : the first break up of the
snow and ice generally brings them. About the
same time I hear the coo of the wood-pigeons, who
now come near the house for protection. This they
do every year as the breeding season approaches.

Three otters are frequenting the mouth of the
river, apparently fishing for the flounders left in

FEB. OTTERS— MALLARDS — SWANS. 189

the pools near the sea. The keeper is pretty sure
of catching them by putting traps at the places
where they leave the water on their way up the
stream after fishing. Whilst going down the otter
seldom leaves the water at all ; but unintermitt-
ingly fishes his way to the sea : coming up, he takes
the land at all the rapids and strong streams. Two
rather singular and yet similar things happened to
me one day whilst I was wild-fowl shooting. I shot
at a mallard, a considerable distance from me, and
evidently struck him, as, after flying some distance
to the windward, he pitched in a grass field : but,
on my approach, he rose again and went at a great
height down wind towards the sea. I happened to
keep my glass on him, and when he was about a
quarter of a mile off I saw him turn over in the air
and fall. On coming up to the place I found the
bird quite alive, but with his wing broken close to
the body. The shot must have struck the bone
without breaking it. The singular part of the
affair was that the bird could battle against strong
wind for at least a quarter of a mile without the
injured bone giving way. In the evening we went
to wait at a pool for ducks. Just as it got dark
a rushing noise was heard, and a pair of swans
skimmed rapidly over the old keeper's head, and
pitched in the water, making a monstrous wave.

190

FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIII.

They did not see us, and immediately began to
feed. It was getting dark, and the old man, not
wishing to lose a chance, got up from his hiding-
place and ran quickly to the water's edge, firing
both barrels at the largest bird as it flew away. His
gun was only loaded with No. 3, and the distance,
as we afterwards found, was above forty yards.
Both the swans flew on for some distance, until we
suddenly saw the wing of one give way, and down
came the bird into the pool, which was of consider-
able size, although shallow. I had left my retriever
at home to rest, and before I could stop him, in
went the old man, and then began a chase which I
have seldom seen equalled. Although the water
was shallow, the bottom was uneven ; and every
minute down went Donald head foremost. I called
to him to let me shoot the bird, and leave it to drift
to the shore ; but all in vain. On he went, tum-
bling over and over, and the swan swimming and
struggling in the water close to him, making an
immense splashing and noise. They got quite
away from me ; and I had nothing left but to sit
down and watch the chase as well as I could
through the approaching darkness. At last he
hemmed the bird into a rushy corner of the loch,
and caught her. But this was no sooner done, than
the swan, by her flapping and struggling, tripped

FEB. WINGED SWAN — WILD -CATS. 191

him up ; and got away again, leaving her antago-
nist flat in the water. Then, and not till then, he
began to load his gun, which he had to my great
wonderment contrived to carry all the time high
over his head ; but, of course, notwithstanding all
his care, it had got quite wet and would not go off,
and the conflict ended at last by a lucky blow from
the barrels which stunned the swan. I was amused
at the boyish eagerness of so old a stager ; particu-
larly as we never lost a shot at ducks or anything
else without his laying it to my fault. I "had
lifted my head too high" or done something else,
showing my want of tact. The poor fellow was in
a sad plight, being ducked to the skin all over
with half frozen water. However, I made him walk
quickly home, and he got no damage from his ex-
ploit. The swan weighed 18 lbs., and measured
above seven feet from tip to tip. "We found that
many shots had struck the wing feathers without
breaking them.

Towards the end of February, whenever the
ground is soft, the badgers leave their holes, and
wander far and near, digging up the ground like
pigs, in the fields as well as in the woods.

The wild-cats are brindled gray, and I have ob-
served that domestic cats of the same colour are
more inclined to take to the woods and hunt for

192 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIII.

themselves than any others. When they do so they
invariably grow very large, and are most destructive
to game of all kinds. A large cat, of this colour,
found out some tame rabbits belonging to my boys,
and killed several of them. At last we saw him
come out of a hole where some white rabbits were
breeding ; and he was shot. The brute had evi-
dently been living on them for some time.

At this season the bean goose and the pink-footed
goose feed very much on a coarse red -coloured
grass which grows in the peat-mosses. They pull
it up and eat the root, which is somewhat bulbous
shaped. While feeding on it they become very
heavy and fat, and have no strong or disagreeable
flavour.

Though these two kinds of geese both feed and
fly together, still while on wing and while on the
ground they keep somewhat apart. The bean geese
are far the most numerous; but there is generally
a small company of the pink-footed kind with them,
and no one but a close observer would perceive that
they do not associate as closely as if they all be-
longed to one family.

A wounded brent goose, which I brought home,
very soon became tame, and fed fearlessly close to
us; indeed, I have frequently observed the same in-
clination to tameness in this beautiful kind of goose.

MARCH. SEA-TROUT — WILD-SWANS. 193

CHAPTEE XIV.

MARCH.

Wild-swans — Loch of Spynie ; Wild-fowl on it — Pochard —
Carrion Crows — Death of Wild-swan — Domestication of
Wild-fowl ; flavour of— Arrival of Geese.

Every day now shows the approach of spring.
The mallards are in pairs in all the pools near the
lakes, taking to the larger sheets of water only
during the daytime. My boys catch plenty of
sea-trout in the river; these fish rise better in the
month of March than at any other time. I have
seen for some time six wild-swans on one of the
lakes ; they appear to be of two different kinds,
three of them being much larger than the others.
The larger birds, too, are much more wary and
wild than the smaller ; at the head of them all is
the largest swan I ever saw.

The swans frequent one particular lake, seldom
alighting on any other piece of water. This lake
is peculiarly open, and very difficult of approach,
which is doubtless one reason for their fixing on it :
another is, that in many places it is so shallow that
they can reach with their long necks the grassy

vol. I. o

194 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIV.

plants growing at the bottom, on the roots of which
plants they feed. Whenever I go that way there
are these swans surrounded by numbers of ducks,
widgeon, teal, etc., who are feeding with them and
looking out fof the scraps and remnants of the
plants which they pull up.

Day by day, at the beginning of March, the
brent geese seem to increase in numbers : they feed
on the grassy banks on the shores of the neck of
land called the " Bar."

I drove over to Gordonston to shoot ducks on
Spynie. Although the lochs were crowded with
birds the day was too fine and calm to enable me
to kill many. However, I managed to shoot a few
mallards and teal by rowing along and quietly in
and out the tall reeds which grow in patches on
the lake. The teal are now very lively, flying
constantly in small companies and keeping up a
perpetual whistling. The coots are always con-
spicuous amongst the other wild-fowl, swimming
high in the water and moving quickly about. On
the islands I found several otter seats in the rushes,
where they appear to make forms like hares.

The keeper caught a beautiful male pochard
which had been wounded somewhere in the body,
but apparently was not much hurt, although dis-
abled from flying. I took it home with me alive,

MARCH. CROWS — BADGERS — ROOKS. 195

and turned it into a small enclosure, where it
amused us much by its tameness and confidence,
beginning to eat worms and porridge immediately,
and seeming to enjoy itself in this new situation as
much as if it had been always accustomed to it.

There are no enemies so destructive to the wild-
fowl as the carrion or rather the hooded crow, which
is the kind we have here. Eggs and young birds
all come alike to these robbers, but the keeper at
Spynie manages to kill great numbers of them by
poison; he uses strychnia, a very small quantity of
which kills the crow on the spot.

The badgers hunt more and more every day at
this season if the weather is open, and apparently
they wander several miles from their home.

On the 2d of March I see the rooks building.
There is much snow on the mountains, but the low
country is quite clear.

The principal wild-fowl on Loch Spynie, Loch
Lee, etc., just now, are mallards, sheldrakes,
widgeons, teals, pintails, scaup ducks, pochards,
golden eyes, a few swans, bald coots and waterhens,
besides an infinity of gulls, redshanks, plovers,
peewits, curlews, etc. They all keep up a constant
calling and noise, in the morning and evening par-
ticularly. All the ducks, though collected in flocks,
still keep in pairs, so that when a large flock is on

196 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIV.

wing, it seems to consist wholly of different pairs
of birds.

I have tried two or three days to get at the
largest wild-swan on Loch Lee, but without suc-
cess ; my fruitless attempts I do not mark down
— Horas non numero nisi serenas. However, on
the 6 th, a fine sunny day, as I passed at some
distance from the lake where the swans were feed-
ing, they rose and alighted on the largest of the
pieces of water ; seeing this, and that they were
not inclined to take to the sea immediately, I sent
the boy who was with me round the lake where
they were, while I made my preparations for re-
ceiving them at their feeding lake, supposing that
they would return to it if allowed to rest for an
hour or so and then quietly moved ; even if they
did not alight, I knew that I was pretty sure of their
line of flight to the sea, and they seldom flew very
high. I waded across part of the loch to an island,
where I determined to await them, and set to work
to make up a hiding-place of long heather, etc.
This done, I loaded my gun with large shot and
cartridges, and established myself behind my bar-
ricade. With my glass I saw the boy and retriever
go round towards them ; the appearance of the
swans floating quietly on the water was most pic-
turesque, their white forms being clearly defined on

MARCH. WILD-SWANS. 197

the dark blue water, and their shadows almost as
distinct as themselves. They all held their heads
erect, watching the boy, who, as he had been
instructed, walked to and fro opposite the birds
and sufficiently near to put them up, but without
appearing to be in pursuit of them. I hoped by
this means to drive them over to the loch where I
was concealed without frightening them so much
as to make them take off to the sea ; but they
seemed so unwilling to rise, and so little afraid of
the boy, whom they appeared to look at with curi-
osity rather than alarm, that I struck a light in
order to smoke the pipe of patience and resignation,
for, fine as the day was for March, my situation in
a damp island and wet through above my knees
began to be uncomfortable.

The latakia was not half puffed away when I
heard the well-known warning cry of the swans,
and immediately looking round saw them just
napping along the water preparatory to their flight.
Cocking my gun, and holding the pipe tighter in my
teeth, I waited anxiously to see in what direction
they would fly. At first they made straight east-
ward, as if off for the bay of Findhorn, but after a
short flight in that direction they turned, and I saw
them coming three and three together, as usual,
straight towards where I was concealed. In a few

198 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIV.

minutes they were exactly over my head, at a good
height, but still within shot, flying with their long
necks stretched straight out and their black feet
tucked up, but plainly visible as they passed over
me. I stood up and took a deliberate aim at the
largest of them as he ascended higher into the air
at my unexpected appearance. The first barrel
seemed to have little effect on him, though I dis-
tinctly heard the shot rattle on his strong quills ;
the second, however, which was loaded with larger
shot, was more effective: whilst his two companions
continued crying to each other, he remained silent.
However, he kept up with the rest, and they all
went off towards the bay. In the meantime three
smaller swans came within twenty yards of me or
less, trumpeting and calling loudly.

With the glass I watched the bird I had fired at,
as I knew he was hard hit. He still, however, held
his way with the rest, and they were gradually
getting indistinct, when I suddenly saw him rise
straight up into the air, his snowy plumage shining
as it caught the rays of the sun. I saw him a
second time rise perpendicularly to a great height;
he then suddenly turned backwards in the air and
tumbled headlong to the ground perfectly dead.
He was above half a mile or more from me, in the
direction of the bay, and the whole intervening

MARCH. DEATH OF WILD -SWAN. 199

ground was covered with sandhills andj bent, so
that I could not see the exact spot where he fell,
whether on the dry ground or in the sea. How-
ever, I marked the direction as well as I could,
and set off after him.

Large as he was, I had a long and for some time
a fruitless search amongst the broken sandhills.
I scanned the bay with the glass in vain, and then
came back towards the lochs. At last I hit upon
him by finding a quantity of blood on the sand, and
following the drops, which had fallen almost in a
stream : in fact the track of blood, though falling
from such a height, was as conspicuous as that of a
wounded hare on snow. At length I came to the
swan, who was lying stretched out on the sand, and
a noble bird he was. I shouldered him as well as
his great length would enable me to do, and
carried him back to where the boy was waiting for
me. I found him, too, no slight burden ; he
weighed above 27 lbs.; the breadth between his
wings 8 feet, and his length 5 feet. Of all the
swans I ever killed he was by far the largest, the
usual weight being from 15 to 18 lbs.

The pochard which I brought home from Spynie
remains quite contented and goes about with the
other ducks. He will eat whatever they feed upon,
but prefers worms to everything else, showing great

200 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIV.

activity in diving for them when they are flung into
the water. If they are given to him on land, he
usually carries each worm to the water before
eating it. Even when brought into the house he
seems quite at home. Many kinds of wild-fowl
might, with a little care, be perfectly domesticated,
and I have no doubt would breed freely. Care
must, however, be taken to prevent their flying
away at the migrating seasons, and also to keep
them at home when they begin to make their nests,
as at that time they seem inclined to wander off in
search of quiet and undisturbed places. I have no
doubt that the sheldrake might be tamed in this
way, and after a few generations of them had been
bred at home, that these birds would become as
useful for the table as our common ducks, and
would be far more ornamental.

After two or three generations of any bird have
been domesticated, the young ones lose all their
wild inclinations, tameness becoming hereditary
with them, as skill and the power of benefiting
by education become hereditary in dogs to a very
striking degree.

Though the flesh of the wild sheldrake is quite
unfit to eat, being excessively rank and fishy, the
birds, if domesticated and fed on proper food,
would soon lose this strong flavour. The common

MARCH. WILD-SWANS AND GEESE. 201

mallard, though so excellent a bird when feeding
in the stubble-fields, is often rank and bad when
driven by deep snows and frost to feed on seaweed,
shellfish, etc. Widgeon and brent geese also, and
in fact all wild-fowl, are good or bad eating ac-
cording to where they feed, in the same way that
the dog of the Chinese, which is fatted for the
table, must be very unlike in flavour to a foxhound
who has been fed on horseflesh.

The bernacle goose seldom pays us a visit, but I
saw a few one day near the bar. I had one of my
boys with me, who was anxious to get a shot at a
wild-swan who was swimming about one of the
lochs, and when we came back from an unsuccess-
ful pursuit of him the geese had left the place.
This bird is numerous only on the west coast.

About the 20 th of March I see a few white-
fronted geese feeding in the swamps near the lakes.

On the 2 2d the dabchicks come to their breed-
ing places in the smaller lochs, where there are
plenty of rushes, and the sheldrakes now come fre-
quently inland. About the middle of March the
black-backed gulls are very noisy in the bay.

As the old keeper saw some bean geese pass over
the house, I took a long walk on the 12th to look
for them in their usual feeding-places, but without
success. The old man, a true "laudator temporis

202 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIV.

acti," complains that the whole country is spoilt by
" drainings and improvements," which banish the
wild-fowl from their former haunts.

When the frogs begin to croak in the pools and
ditches the mallards are sure to be found in these
places every evening and morning.

23 c?. — Nunc avis in ramo tecta laremque parat.
The wood-pigeons are building in the shrubberies
close to the window.

How beautifully the different birds are con-
structed for their different modes of feeding ! The
tender nerves at the end of the bills of the wood-
cock, snipe, and curlew, enable them to find their
food under ground as correctly as if it were
within full view. The oyster-catcher can detach
from the rock and break up mussels and other
shellfish. The oyster-catcher, by the by, can have
little to do with oysters except in name, for strong
as he is, he could scarcely manage to find his living
if condemned to feed on oysters alone. The bill of
the merganser and other birds of that kind is per-
fectly adapted, by means of its curved teeth, to
hold their slippery prey, while the inward sloping
plates in the wild-duck's bill are equally suited for
retaining the small worms, etc., on which they feed.
The carrion-feeding ravens and other birds of that
class have a most perfect and powerful weapon in

MARCH. LARGE FLOCKS OF GEESE. 203

their strong and sharp bills. The crossbill, too,
shears off the fir-cones and extracts the seeds with
his clumsy-looking bill with a facility that no other
shaped tool would afford him. In short, go through
the list of all birds, and you will find that each one
is perfectly adapted in form and powers for pro-
curing its peculiar food.

Whilst talking of the food of birds I cannot help
adverting to the absurd idea of woodcocks and
snipes living " by suction," which you see gravely
affirmed as a fact; whereas a snipe or woodcock is
as great an eater as any bird I know. Any one
who has kept either of these birds in confinement
well knows what difficulty he has had in supplying
them with sufficient worms to satisfy their ravenous
appetite. My friend Mr. Hancock tells me that
he has succeeded in keeping many kinds of sand-
pipers, and even the common snipe, alive and in
good health by feeding them principally on boiled
liver minced small, which seems to approximate
more closely to the usual food of insectivorous and
worm-eating birds, than any other substance.

It is amusing to see the arrival of the larger
flocks of geese about this time of year. A few
small companies of pink-footed and white-fronted
geese usually arrive early in the month, but about
the 28th, and generally on some quiet evening, im-

204 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIV.

mense flights of the bean goose arrive in the Find-
horn Bay. They come in, just about sunset, in four
or five large flocks, and an infinite quantity of
gabbling and chattering takes place for several
hours ; but by daybreak they seem to have deter-
mined on their respective beats, and separating
into smaller flocks disperse over the land, and do
not collect again in very numerous flocks until they
are about to leave that part of the country at the
end of April or the beginning of May. The wild-
geese decrease in number every year : the gray lag
goose is a very rare visitor to the oat-fields here,
although so many breed in Sutherlandshire.

The woodcocks are more numerous at this time
of year in the larger woods than during any part
of the winter: they pair early, and have probably
before this time taken up their breeding quar-
ters. Those which breed abroad do not leave this
country till just before their time of laying.
I am much inclined to think that most birds
which migrate from us in the spring pair some
time before they take their departure.

APRIL. FIELD-MICE — BRENT GEESE. 205

CHAPTER XV.

APRIL.

Field-mice — Brent Geese — Arrival of Migratory Birds — In-
stinct of Crows in Feeding — Instinct of Thrushes — Disap-
pointments in Shooting Wild-geese — Death of White-fronted
Geese — Shetland Pony — Heronry — Anecdote of Boehuck —
Wild-duck's Nest.

The wild-geese which came a few days ago have
now entirely disappeared, either in consequence of
finding no oats sown, or from some impending
change of weather on the higher grounds.

The field-mice on the approach of cold and wet
shut up the mouths of their holes. There are a great
many of these little animals in some of the fields
near the house, notwithstanding the quantity killed
by the owls, who come down from the large woods
every night, and hunt in the cultivated grounds.

Immense numbers of brent geese float with every
tide into the bays formed by the bar. As the tide
recedes they land on the grass and feed in closely-
packed flocks. On the land they are light active
birds, walking quickly, and with a graceful carriage.
On any alarm, before rising, they run together as
close as they can ; thus affording a good chance to

206 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XV.

the shooter, who may be concealed near enough, of
making his shot tell among their heads and necks.
All geese and swans have this habit of crowding
together when first alarmed.

April is an interesting month to the ornithologist,
as it is then that most of the migratory birds change
their quarters, some leaving us, and others arriving.
The regularity of their going and coming is very
surprising. Unless change of weather or very
severe winds interfere, the arrival and departure
of most birds may be calculated nearly to a day.

For the last two years I have first seen the mar-
tins on the 2 5 th of April, and the common chimney
swallow on the 27th. The terns also come at the
same time. Indeed in both years I have seen them
on the same day, i.e. the 27th. On the 30th
the fieldfares still remain, but not in the same
numbers as they were a few days ago. On the
28th large flocks both of fieldfares and redwings
passed by us on their way to the northward. A
few pairs of these birds breed, I am told, in the
large woods near the Spey. And this year (1848)
I was shown a nest and eggs, brought from that
district by a brother of Mr. Dunbar. He described
it as having been placed near the ground.

Mr. Hancock tells me that in Norway, where
he has seen them breeding, the fieldfares make their

APRIL. JACK-SNIPE — WIDGEON. 207

nests in very large companies, a great many being-
placed on each tree, and for the most part at a
considerable height from the ground.

The last jack-snipe that I killed this year was on
the 1 8th of April. Indeed I do not remember ever
killing one after that time. I shot a greenshank on
the same day. The latter bird breeds commonly in
Sutherlandshire. But I have never ascertained
that the jack-snipe's nest was seen, or indeed that
the bird is known to breed, in that county. The
widgeons begin to decrease in numbers. 1 do not
understand the moulting of these birds : for at the
very time when they leave us, many of the male
birds have not attained their full plumage. Those
who frequent the salt water are more backward in
this respect than such as feed in the fresh waters ;
nor are the former ever in such good condition, or
so well flavoured, as the latter.

There are very large flocks of the oyster-catcher,
the curlew, and the knot, on the sand-banks, etc.
Whenever these birds want to alight on any spot,
if the wind is at all high they invariably pitch with
their heads straight to windward ; if they come
down the wind to their resting-place, they first fly
past it, and then turning back against the wind,
alight with their heads in that direction.

At this season salmon and trout frequent those

208 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XV.

parts of the river where the stream is the slowest,
or lie in dead water, apparently not having the
strength, which, in the warm weather, enables them
to lie perfectly at their ease in the strongest rapid.
Amongst the curions instincts which birds dis-
play in providing themselves with food, one most
resembling reason is that which teaches the com-
moncrow,on finding on the shore a shell containing
fish, to fly with it to a height in the air, and then
to let it drop in order to break the shell sufficiently
to get at the fish enclosed in it. When the shell
does not break the first time that the crow drops
it, she darts down, picks it up, and ascends still
higher, till she perceives that the height is sufficient
for her purpose. Sometimes another crow darts in
to carry off the booty, upon which a battle ensues
in the air. Cunning as the crow is, she seldom
finds any prize without letting all the neighbour-
hood know of it by her cries and gestures. With
perfect truth the ancient poet said —

" Tacitus pasci, si posset corvns, haberet
Plus dapis, et rixse multo minus invidiaeque. "

The crows collect great numbers of sea-shells on
particular favourite hillocks, which are often at
some distance from the sea. I have frequently
observed in this country great collections of this
kind, and from the state of the shells it would

APRIL. THRUSHES — BLACKBIRDS — BEAN-GEESE. 209

appear that they bring them to the same place for
many successive years.

In some of the woods the thrushes and blackbirds
carry the land-shells to certain fixed stones, against
which they break them, in order to get at the snails.
In a wood of "Brodie" where the round yellow and
black-striped shell {Helix nemoralis) is abundant,
owing I conclude to the rocks under the surface being
limestone, I watched two thrushes bring several of
these shells in a very short space of time ; they
knocked them against the stone, and if that did not
do, they struck the shell in a crevice and hammered
away at it until they extracted the snail, with which
they then flew away, probably to feed their young.
Whenever I passed through the wood I always
visited the thrushes' stone, and found an increasing
heap of broken shells. Most birds, if carefully
watched, would be found to have recourse to
various most surprising expedients in order to
obtain food for themselves and their young.

In this country April is the best month for the
Bean-geese, yet many weary and often fruitless
miles I have walked in pursuit of them. There is
something in the wildness and wariness of this fine
bird that makes it a peculiarly attractive object
of pursuit ; but wild-goose shooting is

" Omnium rerum incertissima. "
VOL. I. P

210 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XV.

When I have concealed myself in one of my
hiding-places in a newly-sown field of oats or peas,
the geese, after keeping me perhaps a long time
waiting, may arrive at last ; and alighting on the
field, may commence feeding without any suspicion
of danger till they come nearly within shot. But
although concealed from the geese, I may be visible
in a different direction, when a couple of villainous
large black-backed gulls — as happened to-day —
came by, and seeing me lying in wait in a suspicious
manner, immediately commenced screaming and
wheeling over my head. The geese, who are all
dispersed in the field, no sooner hear the gulls than
they run rapidly together away from me, for they
know by the direction in which the gulls are look-
ing where the danger is; they then rise and betake
themselves straight to the sea, leaving me without
the chance of a shot, after all the trouble I have
had in preparing an ambuscade.

One clay this month, too, after endeavouring for
some time to approach unseen some white-fronted
geese, one of which I was very anxious to procure
for a friend, I saw the birds go to a pool where I
knew I could get within shot of them without the
least trouble. So making a considerable circuit,
I arrived at a part of the ground from which my
approaching the geese was perfectly easy. But just

APRIL. STALKING WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. 211

then some peewits saw me as I was advancing in a
crouching attitude up to the birds. Had I been
walking upright, these peewits would not have
taken any notice of me; but the moment that they
saw me stooping to conceal myself, they attacked
me with screams and cries of alarm sufficient to
warn all the country. The geese of course took
wing, and left me to return as I came.

To stalk a flock of wild-geese when feeding is as
difficult, if not more so, as to stalk a stag. From
the nature of the ground which they feed on, and
their unwearied vigilance, unless you have con-
cealed yourself beforehand within reach of their
feeding-place, it is nearly impossible to approach
them. Even if some half-dry ditch or drain passes
through the field, and is of sufficient depth to hide
the sportsman, supposing he has strength enough
of back and of resolution to walk in a stooping
position up to his knees in cold water for some hun-
dreds of yards, still the birds are most unwilling to
approach any such line of ditch, or indeed any
other place which can possibly conceal an enemy.

One of my boys, however, succeeded in getting
at this same flock of white-fronted geese in a place
where a man could never have done so. He was
out for a walk with a gentleman who was staying
with me, to whom he was acting as cicerone or

212 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XV.

guide to the lochs, as I was unable for some reason
to go out with him myself. The little boy took the
telescope, which their attendant carried, and having
looked along the shores of the lakes and through
all the likely parts of the ground, which he knew
as well as I did, from having frequently ridden that
way to join me, he shut up the glass with the excla-
mation characteristic of a deer-stalker — " There
they are !" My friend's question of course was —
"Who are there ?" And on being told it was a
flock of geese, he at once understood why he had
been led on from point to point under different
excuses ; for he had good-naturedly followed pas-
sively wherever he was told to go. Having been
shown the geese, he sat down with the glass and
allowed the child to attempt the task of stalking
them, but without having the slightest expectation
of his success.

Having watched him for some time till he be-
came invisible, having apparently sunk into the
ground amongst the rushes and long grass, his
attention was next attracted by seeing the geese
suddenly rise, and almost immediately perceiving
that one fell to the ground. The next instant he
heard the double report of the boy's gun. Another
goose left the flock and fell at some distance, but
it was unnoticed by him and the servant, as their

APRIL. SHETLAND PONIES. 213

attention was taken up by the young sportsman,
who went dashing through water and swamp to
seize the first bird that fell : it was nearly as big
as himself, and he brought it up to them in tri-
umph, a successful right and left at wild-geese
being rather an era in the sporting adventures of
a boy ten years old. The well-earned game was
then slung across his pony in company with sundry
rabbits, etc., and was brought home with no small
exultation.

The Shetland pony, than which I never saw a
more perfect one, is of great use in many ways.
After the hours devoted to Latin, etc., are over, one
of the boys, when the weather is tolerable, gene-
rally rides out to meet me, if I am in ground
which I cannot drive to; and having anchored his
pony to a weight sufficient to keep him from wan-
dering far, but not too heavy to prevent his feeding
about the rough grass, furze, etc., he joins me, and
the pony has all the hares and rabbits slung across
his back to save the shoulders of the old keeper.
Standing fire perfectly, the little Shetlander seems
rather to enjoy the shooting, and to take an in-
terest in what we kill. With proper treatment and
due care these Shetland ponies become the most
docile and fine-tempered animals in the world ; but
if once they are badly used they soon become as

214 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XV.

full of tricks and as vicious as a monkey. The
only bad habit of which I could never break ours
was opening every gate which hindered his getting
out. There was scarcely any common fastening
which he would not undo with his teeth, and if he
found a weak place in railings he would push
against it till he broke it, and then gallop away
for an hour or two where he chose. He also had
a peculiar knack of finding out and opening the
oat-chest in any stable. When out on a marauding
excursion of this kind he knew perfectly that he
was doing wrong, and would not allow me to catch
him, although at home he would follow me any-
where, putting his nose into my hand to ask for
apples or bread. At all times, however, he allowed
any one of the children, particularly my little girl,
to catch him, and when caught always came back
as quietly as possible. There was a great deal of
fun and conscious roguery in the little fellow's
style of mischief which one could never help laugh-
ing at. When idle in his field nothing seemed to
please him so much as a game of romps with any
dog who would play with him.

When I lived close to Nairn, as soon as ever he
heard the horn of the mail-coach, which was blown
on its arrival at the inn, he invariably ran to an
elevated part of the field, from which he could see

APRIL. JACKDAWS — PEREGRINE FALCONS. 215

over the wall, and waited there for the mail to
pass. As soon as it came opposite his station off
he set, galloping round and round the field with
his heels generally higher than his head, and his
long mane and tail streaming out, evidently show-
ing himself off to obtain the applause of the pas-
sengers, to whom he seemed to afford daily amuse-
ment, as every head was turned back to see him
as long as they possibly could.

Biding by the heronry on the Findhorn I saw the
keeper at Altyre searching in all the jackdaws' nests
that he could reach for the remains of the herons'
eggs. These active little marauders live in great
numbers in the rocks immediately opposite the
herons, and keep up a constant warfare with them
during the breeding season, stealiug an immense
number of their eggs, which they carry over to the
holes and crevices of the opposite rocks and eat
them, out of reach of the herons. The keeper took
handfuls of the shells of the herons' egcrs out of
some of the jackdaws' holes : the injury to the
heronry from this cause must be very great, as
the plundering seems to be incessantly going on.

I see that the peregrine falcon still breeds near
the heronry : a pair only remain in the rock, as
every season they drive away their young ones to
find a resting-place elsewhere. The barn owl also

216 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XV.

breeds in the rocks of the Findhorn : not having
towers or ruins to breed in, they adapt themselves
to their situation and take to the rocks.

The male of all hawks, I believe, feeds his mate
while she is sitting on her eggs. Whilst I was
fishing in the Findhorn, at a place where a great
many kestrels breed, one of these birds came flying
up the course of the river with a small bird in his
claws. When he came opposite the rock where the
nest was, he rose in the air and began to call
loudly and shrilly for his mate, who soon came out
from the rocks, and taking the bird in her talons
flew back with it ; the male bird, after uttering a
few cries expressive of pleasure, flew off to renew
his hunting.

The time at which roe lose the velvet from their
horns seems to depend on the lateness or earliness
of the season. This year (1848) is backward, and
as late as the 15 th of this month I see that the
horns of the bucks are still covered with the velvet.
In early seasons their horns are quite clean by the
4th or 5th of the month. When the larch and other
trees become green, the roe wander very much,
taking to the smaller woods and grassy plantations
in search of some favourite foliage or herbage. A
fine buck came to an untimely end at Darnaway.
Mr. Stuart on his way to fish, was going along a

APRIL. ROEBUCK — HOODED CROW — WILD -DUCK. 217

narrow footpath on the top of the rocks which over-
hang the river, when his dogs, running into the
cover, started a buck, who, taking a sudden spring
into the footpath, found himself unexpectedly within
a few inches of Mr. Stuart, in fact almost touching
him. Without pausing for an instant the fright-
ened animal with another spring went right over
the high rocks into the deep black pools of the river
below. Mr. Stuart got clown to the water and
managed to pull the roebuck out, but the poor
animal was quite dead, killed by the shock of
jumping from so great a height, although his fall
must have been much broken by the water.

When a crow leaves her nest on being disturbed,
her quiet, sneaking manner of threading her way
through the trees tells that she has young or eggs
in the thicket as plainly as if she uttered cries of
alarm. These birds are early breeders : I found
a hooded crow's nest with eggs nearly hatched on
the 16 th April.

The common wild-duck often builds her nest in
a situation from which one would suppose it would
be very difficult for the young, when first hatched,
to make their way to the water. My retriever put
up a wild-duck on the 1 6th in some very high and
close heather at some distance from any water. I
found that she had her nest in the very centre of

218 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XV.

the heather and in the densest part of it. The
nest was very beautifully formed; it was perfectly
round, and looked like a mass of the finest down,
with just sufficient coating of small sticks, etc., out-
side to keep the down together. There were thir-
teen eggs in it, which we took home and put under
a bantam hen : they were hatched in a few days,
and I allowed them to go at liberty with their
foster mother in the kitchen garden, where they
soon became perfectly tame. When the gardener
digs any part of the ground the little fellows im-
mediately flock about his spade, so that it is difficult
for him to avoid hurting them, as they tumble about
on the newly-turned up earth, darting at the worms
which come into view; whenever they see him take
his spade they run after him as if they thought that
his only object in digging up the ground was to
find them food. One tiny fellow, who is weaker
than the rest, and who consequently gets pushed
out of the way by his stronger brethren, waits
quietly to be lifted up on the flat of the spade,
where the gardener allows him to stop out of
the reach of the others, while the little glutton
swallows a worm nearly as big as himself. The
moment the spade is laid flat on the ground he
knows that his turn has come, and running on it
looks out for the expected worm, and is quite

A¥Rlh. BRENT GOOSE — POCHARD — RIVER-TROUT. 219

fearless although raised on the spade several feet
from the ground.

There are few wild-birds or other animals which
could not be tamed and made useful to us if, in-
stead of constantly persecuting them, we treated
them with hospitality and allowed them to live in
peace and plenty. All wild-fowl are susceptible
of domestication, and there are very few kinds
which would not breed in a tame state.

Most wild -fowl require very little extent of
water as long as they have grass -fields to walk
about and to feed in. No more water is necessary
than is sufficient for them to wash and take an
occasional swim in.

Our brent goose seems to eat scarcely anything
but grass, and any snails and worms it may find in
the field. He is a far more graceful bird on land
than the pochard, for quick and active as the latter
is in the water, his great fiat feet, placed far behind,
are of little service to him in walking.

The eye of the pochard is of a most wonderfully
clear bright red colour, something between crimson
and scarlet, and is quite unlike that of any other
water-fowl that I am acquainted with.

April, if the weather is fine and genial enough to
bring out many flies, is about the best month for
trout-fishing on the Findhorn. Large river-trout,

220

FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR.

CH. XV.

which are seldom seen at any other time of the
year, make their appearance in this month and rise
freely ; the sea-trout fishing, lower down near the
sea, is equally good, the fish being numerous and
eager to take the fly.

MAY. NESTS OF BIRDS. 221

CHAPTEE XVI.

MAY.

Nests of Birds— Cross-bills, etc.— Lateness of Season— Bean-
Geese — Partridge's Nest — Northern Diver— Coot's Nest-
Teal and her Young— Wren's Nest— Badgers ; cunning of ;
anecdote of — Aurora Borealis ; sound made by.

In this region May is invariably ushered in by
the croak of the landrail. Generally this bird is
heard on the 1st. If, however, the grass and wheat
fields are backward, it is not heard till the 2d or
3d, but never later than the 3d.

On the 1st of May we found in an old crows'
nest, placed in a tall Scotch fir-tree, the nest of a
horned owl, with one young bird, half -grown, and
a rotten egg. The owls hoot now very much, and
though none breed very near the house, I hear them
every night in the ash-trees.

The young thrushes, blackbirds, robins, and
hedge-sparrows will soon be hatched; but the
greenfinches, chaffinches, etc., although their nests
are nearly completed, have not yet laid any eggs;
the insectivorous birds being the first to build.

Swallows, martins, swifts, and wheatears become

222 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVI.

numerous about the first week in May, and the
landrail's call is heard from every patch of clover.
The movements of the landrail are very peculiar
and amusing: at one moment threading the clover
with its head bent to the ground, and looking more
like a weasel than a bird ; the next, standing per-
fectly erect, and uttering its hoarse cry with a voice
of brass. I saw one to-day standing upright be-
tween the legs of a cow, and crying boldly, as if
perfectly aware that the cow was not an enemy.

"Whilst fishing in the upper part of the river I
saw numbers of crossbills and siskins in the beauti-
ful woods of Dulsie. The nests of these two birds
are scarcely ever found, although they certainly
breed plentifully in this country. The siskin con-
ceals its small nest with great care at some distance
from the ground, generally near the summit of a
spruce fir; while the crossbill places its nest, which
it assimilates as much as possible to the colour
and texture of the moss, on some good-sized hori-
zontal branch of a fir-tree, so that it is nearly
invisible from below.

When the season is late the fish are also late in
taking the fly. The natural fly does not come to
maturity this year as early as usual, in consequence
of the herbage not having come up ; and the want
of flies on the water keeps the fish from coining

MAY. BEAN-GEESE — PARTRIDGES. 223

out to the streams and pools of the river, where
the angler expects them.

There is much snow on the Monaghleahd moun-
tains this year (1847); and in consequence of this
melting gradually from the heat of the noonday
sun, the water rises at a certain hour daily ; here,
at Dulsie, the rise takes place about three or
four in the morning. Having risen for an hour
or two, it again falls to its usual level.

May 6. — The salmon-fry begin to appear.

May 7. — I observe a flock of bean-geese in the
bay, probably the last I shall see this year, as it is
time for them to be nesting in the far north. On
this day, also, the spotted fly-catcher appeared in
the garden, where it builds every year in one of
the apricot trees.

During this month the oyster-catchers remain in
larger flocks than at any other time of the year,
although many are breeding far inland on the stony
banks of the Findhorn, Spey, and other rivers.

The partridge covers its nest and eggs with per-
haps greater cunning than any other bird, entirely
concealing not only the nest itself, but so dispos-
ing the surrounding grass that no vestiges of its
track to and fro can be seen : they commence
laying here about the 10th of May. The land-
rails are about a week later.

224 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVI.

I have often observed that the black-headed gull
eats a great deal of corn in the newly sown fields;
and I now find that the lesser black-backed gull
does the same, as I shot one which had a handful
of corn (oats and barley) in its crop, mixed up
with worms, grubs, etc.

The fishermen at Nairn found, on the 26 th of
this month, a very fine northern diver, drowned in
the stake-nets set for salmon. They tell me that it
is not a solitary instance, as every year they get one
or two at this season. This is another proof that
this bird must breed somewhere on the Scotch coast,
although I never heard of its eggs being found.

The coots and dabchicks have already com-
menced making their large platform of a nest. I
found one on the loch which the bird had fastened
on a floating tree that had grounded in a shallow;
but which, having again got adrift, owing to a rise
in the loch, had been driven by the wind until it
stuck fast close to the shore, where the old bird was
still at work. One bird seems to remain in the nest
while its mate brings it rushes, which the stationary
bird disposes of by adding them to the already large
structure, till it seems sufficiently high above the
water and solid enough to resist wind and weather.
The whole nest is firm enough to bear a much
greater weight than is ever imposed on it.

MAY. WILD -DUCK — TEAL — TERN. 225

Everywhere on the lakes are broods of young
wild-ducks, either swimming in close order behind
their mothers, or all huddled together in a heap
on some little island or projecting point of land.

As we were out driving the other day, a teal
came fluttering out of the dry ditch by the roadside,
and for above a hundred yards continued flying and
running almost under the horse's feet. I found
that she had a number of young ones imable to get
over the wall, so we helped them into the adjoining
wood. They were a long distance from the water,
and had very rough ground to pass over to reach it.
I remember exactly a similar circumstance happen-
ing to me in Eoss-shire, when I also saved the lives
of a young brood of teal by lending them a helping
hand. These instances prove that, notwithstanding
the instinct of birds, which generally enables them
to keep their young out of harm's way, they occasion-
ally get them into a situation not only of difficulty,
but where any dog or mischievous boy coming along
might destroy the whole brood. At every ebb tide
now, the terns fish with great perseverance for the
sand-eels, on which they almost entirely feed.

The month of May this year appears to have
quite changed its character; instead of being warm
and genial, we have nothing but cold and cutting
east winds; and the mountains have lost but very

VOL. I. Q

226 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVI.

little of their winter covering of snow ; indeed, on
the higher inland mountains their white dresses ex-
tend down very nearly as low as in the winter. But
notwithstanding the bad weather there is much to
amuse and interest one in the sheltered parts of the
low country. Every plant and flower is bursting
into beauty, in spite of the cold blasts ; and the
small birds are in full activity and seem at the
height of their happiness. It is also a constant
source of amusement to us to watch the various
ways of building and the different nests of the small
birds. Each nest has its own character, and each bird
its own place of concealment. The little willow
wren forms one of the most interesting nests, which
it places either under a bush in the flower-garden,
or in a rough grass-field, where it forms a kind of
dome-shaped nest, made to assimilate completely
with the surface of the surrounding ground.

The common wren, too, is very choice and careful
in the structure of her nest, and sometimes builds
in the most singular situations. I saw one this year
which was built in a cactus that hung from the roof
of a greenhouse. Every time the little bird wished
to add a leaf, or a piece of moss, she had to squeeze
and twist herself in through a small hole left for the
entrance of a vine stem. Her perseverance and
determination were extraordinary; for in spite of all

MAY. BADGERS. 227

difficulties she managed to form an immense nest in
this singularly chosen and picturesque abode. It is
difficult to imagine what could have put it into her
head to come into the greenhouse at all, and through
so awkward an entrance, surrounded, too, as she was
by places far more suitable and easy of access.

The badgers live a life of great activity now. In
this country they are seldom destroyed : at least,
there is one large tract of very wild country, the
soil of which is sandy and suitable for their digging-
propensities, where also they are not often trapped.
The badger, when once he has been frightened by,
or has escaped from a trap, is not easily caught
again ; but displays a cunning and perseverance in
eluding all attempts at his capture which he is not
generally supposed to possess.

I seldom declare war against these animals, not
considering them very mischievous; but some time
ago, wanting one for a friend, I set a strong trap
with bait near one of their holes. A large badger
got in, but managed to escape before I came to the
trap. I set it again ; and the next morning, on
going to it, I saw from a distance a number of
hooded crows, perched in a tree near the place, in
a state of great excitement. On coming up, how-
ever, instead of the badger I found an immense gray
cat, closely resembling a wild-cat, both in colour

228 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVI.

and ferocity, and who flew straight at me on my
approaching her. Having killed her, I left her near
the place, covered over with sand; the badgers came
and scratched her up, and nearly devoured her by
the next morning; so I put traps about the remains
of her body; but they managed to spring every trap
without being caught, and for several days they
escaped in the same way. The traps were always
sprung ; the badgers' tracks were all round them,
and the baits invariably taken away. At last,
determined not to be beat, I baited my trap with
an apple, as something new and unexpected to
them, and immediately caught what I wanted, a
fine old badger.

My old keeper was sitting on a hillock about
three o'clock one morning in the beginning of
May, watching quietly a few wild-geese which
he had discovered feeding in a field not very
far off, but out of shot. In this hillock was
a badger's hole. Presently he heard a grunt
behind him, which he took for a pig ; and look-
ing round he saw, standing in a clover field close
to him, an immensely large badger, whose object
seemed to be to get into a hole on the hillock, to
reach which he had no alternative but to pass
within a yard of the man's legs. After they had
looked at each other for some time in this way, the

MAY. AURORA BOREALIS. 229

badger at last uttering a most ill-natured kind of
grunt, suddenly put his nose to the ground, and
passing close to the keeper made a rush to the hole,
with all his hair standing straight on end, and
showing his teeth in so determined a manner as
completely to take away all presence of mind from
the old fellow; so much so, indeed, that he neither
shot at him nor obstructed his free entrance to the
hole in any way. He tells me that when he has
been sitting quietly watching for geese, otters, etc.,
he has not unfrequently seen the badgers going
about together in companies of three or four.

There was a heavy gale of wind at the beginning
of this month. I was out late with the keeper, and
just before it commenced we saw a very brilliant
aurora borealis ; or, as they term it here, " The
Merry Dancers." He told me that when the
aurora was very bright, and the flashes rapidly
waving through the sky, he had frequently thought
that he heard the merry dancers emit a faint
rustling noise, like the "moving of dead leaves," but
this was only when the night was quite calm, and
there was no sound to disturb the perfect stillness.
The idea came from him quite uncalled for by any
remark of mine, and was entirely the result of his
own actual observation. I was pleased to hear
him say this, as I had more than once imagined

230 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVI.

that the aurora, when peculiarly bright and rapid
in its movements, did actually make exactly
the sound that he described ; but never having
heard it asserted by any one else, I had always
been rather shy of advancing such a theory.

The aurora is seldom seen, or at least seldom
attentively watched in this country, in situations
where there is not some sound or other, such as
voices, running water, or the rustling and moaning
of trees, to break the perfect silence ; but it has
occasionally happened to me to be gazing at this
beautiful illumination in places where no other
sound could be heard, and then, and then only,
have I fancied that the brightest flashes were ac-
companied by a light crackling or rustling noise,
or, as my keeper expressed it very correctly, " the
moving of dead leaves." Whether this is so or
not I leave to others, more learned in the pheno-
mena of the heavens, to decide, and only mention
the circumstance as the passing remark of an un-
scientific observer.

In the northern mountains of Sutherland, where
the aurora is frequently very bright and beautiful,
there is a fascinating, nay, an awful attraction in
the sight, which has kept me for hours from my
bed, watching the waving and ever changing flashes
dancing to and fro. I have watched this strange

MAY. AURORA BOREALIS. 231

sight where the dead silence of the mountains was
only broken by the fancied rustling of the "dresses"
of the " merry dancers," or by the sudden scream
or howl of some wild inhabitant of the rocks; and
I have done so until an undefinable feeline of
superstitious awe has crept over my mind, which
was not without difficulty shaken off.

The aurora, bright as it sometimes is in this
country, must be far more wildly and vividly
splendid in the more northern and Polar regions.
Here it is almost invariably the forerunner of
change of weather, or of rough winds and storm.

One night this spring the appearance of the
aurora was very peculiar. All the flashes seemed
to dart from a common bright centre in the
heavens : this continued for some time, until, at
length assuming its usual form, it remained com-
paratively stationary above the north - eastern
horizon, and from that quarter there came the
next day a severe storm of sleet and wind.

232 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVII.

CHAPTEE XVII.

JUNE.

Trout-fishing — Sea-trout in the Findhorn — Breeding -place
of Black -headed Gulls— Salmon -fishing— Gray Crows —
Hair Worms— Fishing— Cromarty— Goats— The Peregrine
Falcon.

In June the trout begin to feed more freely, and
from most Highland streams the sportsman may
reckon on a good basketful if the day is tolerable.
There is a kind of trout in the Findhorn which
frequent only the lower pools near the sea ; higher
up I never saw them ; the fishermen call them
" brown lugs." In appearance they are between
a sea and a river trout : they seldom exceed a
pound and a half in weight.

One day, about the 1st of June, when fishing in
a clear pool near the mouth of the river, a large
trout came out from under the bank, and darted
over my fly without taking it. I changed the fly,
and he did the same thine;. I tried him with a
dozen different sorts, and he invariably played the
same trick, coming out from under the bank, dash-
ing at the fly, then turning short round or rolling
over it. At last a miniature black midge in my

JUNE. TROUT-FISHING IN THE FINDHORN. 233

book caught my eye, and I put it on: the moment I
cast this fly over the trout he came straight at it
in quite a different manner, taking it well into his
wide mouth as if at last in earnest. He was well
hooked, and then came the tug of war and the
trial of patience. The fly was literally speaking a
midge, made more as an experiment in fly-making
than for any expected use, and it was tied on the
finest gut. The trout, on finding that instead of
catching a fly he was caught himself, immediately
began to try every device that a trout ever imag-
ined to get rid of his tiny enemy. Now he was
down at the bottom rubbing his nose on the gravel:
the next moment flying straight up into the air
with the agility of a harlequin; sometimes with
forty yards of line out, and sometimes right under
my feet; then away he went as if about to run over
the shallow at the end of the pool on his way to
the sea, but changing his mind, darted like an arrow
up to the deepest part of the pool, and there he lay
like a stone at the bottom. After a little waiting
I pelted him out of that mood, and beginning my-
self to grow eager and desperate (moreover having
now more confidence in my midge, which had
already passed through a trial which a larger hook
might not have stood equally well), I turned his
head down the stream, and began to take the game

234 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVII.

into my own hands a little more — in fact to be the
active instead of the passive agent. The trout, too,
began to feel weary of the contest, and to allow him-
self to be led about : at last I brought him to the
edge, but just as the landing-net was being deli-
cately slipped under him, away he went again, and
ran the line round a broken piece of bank on the
opposite side. * I am afraid something very like an
imprecation escaped me ; and if it did, I am con-
fident that Job himself could not blame me. Just
as I had quite given all up, the trout most carefully
and good-naturedly turned back the way he went,
undoing the line again as neatly as possible. After
a little more running to and fro he fairly gave in, and
this time we got him safely into the landing-net,
when I found that he was one of the aforesaid "brown
lugs," weighing nearly 5 lbs. — the largest trout
that I ever killed on the Findhorn, and mastered
too with a fly only fit for parr of the smallest size.
I have frequently found that when a large trout
runs in that undecided manner at my fly, he will
so in right earnest at a much smaller one. Salmon
are more uncertain : it has happened to me that,
even in clear water, a salmon has leaped over or
refused a small salmon-fly, but has taken greedily
a very large-sized one. But this is an exception;
and my experience would lead me, as a general

JUNE. BLACK-HEADED GULLS. 235

rule, always to offer a fish a smaller fly than the
one he rises shily at ; and I believe that I should
be borne out in this opinion by more experienced
anglers than myself.

I never saw so many black-headed gulls col-
lected together as on the Loch of Belivat, on the
property of Lethen : at one end of the loch there
are a great many rushes and water-plants ; these
are, literally speaking, full of nests, formed of in-
terwoven rushes, weeds, etc. ; and on the islands in
the lake you can scarcely land without putting your
foot on eggs, which are very slightly protected by
anything in the shape of a nest. On this island
are a few stunted and bent willows ; every branch
and every fork of a branch where a nest can pos-
sibly be placed is occupied: this is the only instance
I ever met with of gulls building on bushes. The
stench on the island is almost insupportable ; in-
deed it was so strong that I hurried off again as
quickly as possible : the day was hot, and it actually
seemed pestilential. The old birds looked like a
shower of drifting snow over our heads, and were as
noisy as a dozen village schools broken loose. This
was on the 2d of June, and there were numbers of
young gulls recently hatched — curiously marked
little tortoiseshell- coloured things who tottered
about the rushes, etc., without the least fear of us.

236 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVII.

All other birds seemed to be kept away from the
lake by the gulls, excepting a few mallards, who
were swimming about in a state of bachelorhood,
their wives and families being probably in some
more quiet and solitary pool in the neighbouring
peat-mosses. When the mallards rose they were so
completely puzzled and " hcbothcred " by the thou-
sands of gulls who were darting and screaming
about them, that they gave up attempting to fly
away, and came plump down again into the water.

Although the gulls may know each its own nest,
it is difficult to understand how they can recognise
their young ones amongst the thousands of little
downy things which, towards the end of the hatch-
ing season, are floating about upon the water. There
is another nesting-place of the black-headed gulls
in the forest of Darnaway, where they have taken
possession of a small loch surrounded by trees.
They usually, however, like all other water-fowl,
prefer establishing their breeding-place on a loch
situated in the open country, where they can have
a good view all around so as to descry the ap-
proach of any enemy ; but undisturbed possession
and quiet have induced them to remain on the
Darnaway loch, although it is shut in by trees.

June is generally the best month of the year for
angling in Scotland : the loch trout are by this time

JUNE. DESTRUCTION OF SALMON. 237

in good condition, and rise freely at the fly. The
grilse also are now in most of the rivers, and afford
better angling than any other fish, rising well, and
being strong and active when hooked. There ap-
pears of late years to be a great diminishing in the
number of salmon in all the Scotch rivers : the fish
are more protected from the angler, but are caught
and destroyed in so many other ways — by constant
netting in the streams, by innumerable stake-nets,
bag-nets, etc., all along the coasts — that they have
but little chance of keeping up their numbers.
From one end of Scotland to the other along the
whole extent of the coast, these destructive nets
are fixed at every convenient place. Near the
mouth of every stream, large or small, they are to
be seen, and immense must be the number of fish
taken to repay the expense of keeping them up,
and renewing the stakes, netting, etc., every spring,
and frequently also after severe storms. Near the
little stream of Nairn there are no less than three
of these nets, and as many more between that
point and the Findhorn, all of which are exposed
to a heavy sea, which must make the expense of
keeping them in repair very great.

On the bar, which is a kind of island, there is a
solitary hut, where two or three fishermen pass the
spring and summer. In the latter end of winter.

238 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVII.

when I have been wild-fowl shooting in that direc-
tion, I have often gone in to screen myself from the
cold. During the absence of the fishermen the hut
is tenanted by rabbits, who make themselves quite
at home, digging holes in the turf walls, etc. The
life of the fishermen in this place must be like that
of a lighthouse-keeper. During high tides they are
quite cut off from the mainland, and although at
low water their place of abode is no longer an
island, yet that part of the shore opposite the bar is
a kind of wilderness little frequented by any one,
being at a long distance from any road or path,
with an extensive tract of rough and all but impass-
able country extending in every direction. It is,
however, a favourite resort of mine, being the undis-
turbed abode of many wild animals. The roebuck
and blackcock live in tolerable security there, and
would increase to a very great extent were their
young ones not killed by foxes and other vermin,
who prowl about without danger of trap or poison.
I had heard that the lochs here called Loch Lee
had no fish in them of any kind ; but seeing the
numerous tracks of otters, and also the cormorants
frequently fishing in them, I determined to ascer-
tain what these animals came for; being pretty
sure that some kind of fish must be the attraction.
Accordingly, having made up a long " set line" i.e.

JUNE. HOODED CROWS. 239

some two hundred yards of line with strong hooks
at intervals of four or five yards, I set it, as far as
it would reach, across one part of the largest lake,
baiting the hooks with small trout and worms.
The next morning on examining the line I found
a great number of large eels on the hooks, several
of them weighing above four pounds each. Al-
though I frequently afterwards put in the line, I
never caught any fish excepting eels, but of these a
vast number. This proves how favourite a food of
the otter eels must be, as these animals appear to
live constantly at the loch, where they could have
1'ound nothing else to prey upon. A highland loch
without trout is, however, a rare thing, as they
are almost invariably well stocked with them.

There are one or two grassy hillocks near these
lakes to which those mischievous robbers, the
hooded crows, bring the eggs which they have pil-
fered in order to eat them at their leisure; and until
I administered a dose of strychnia, I never passed
these places without finding the fresh remains of
eggs : partridges, plovers, snipes, redshanks, wood-
pigeon, ducks, and teal, all seemed to have contri-
buted to support these ravenous birds. There was
a nest of a teal with eight eggs in a small thicket
of heather, in a situation apparently secure from all
risk of being discovered. I only knew of it in con-

240 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVII.

sequence of my retriever having put up the old bird.
Frequently, afterwards, I saw her on her downy
nest, but one day both teal and eggs were gone ;
and when I went to the grassy hillock which the
crows used for a dining-table, there were the re-
mains of all the eight eggs.

Poisoning with strychnia is by far the most effec-
tual way of destroying crows. If you put a piece
of carrion in a tree well seasoned with this power-
ful drug, the ground below it will soon be strewed
with the bodies of most of the crows in the neigh-
bourhood, so instantaneous is their death on
swallowing any of it. It seems almost immediately
to paralyze them, and they fall down on the spot.

In the stagnant pools near the river Nairn there
are great numbers of that singular worm called by
the country people the hair-worm, from its exact
resemblance to a horsehair. In these pools there
are thousands of them twisting and turning about
like living hairs. The most singular thing regard-
ing them is, that if they are put for weeks in a
drawer or elsewhere, till they become as dry and
brittle as it is possible for anything to be, and to
all appearance perfectly dead and shrivelled up, yet
on being put into water they gradually come to life
again, and are as pliable and active as ever. The
country people are firmly of opinion that they are

JUNE. TERRIER SEARCHING FOR EELS. 241

nothing but actual horsehair turned into living
things by being immersed for a long time in water
of a certain quality. All water does not produce
them alike. To the naked eye both extremities
are quite the same in appearance.

While fishing in the river one day at the begin-
ning of June, my attention was attracted by a
terrier I had with me, who was busily employed in
turning up the stones near the water's edge, evi-
dently in search of some sort of food. On examin-
ing into his proceedings I found that under most of
the stones were a number of very small eels : where
the ground was quite dry the little fish were dead,
and these the dog ate ; where there was still any
moisture left under the stone they were alive, and
wriggled away rapidly towards the stream, seeming
to know instinctively which way to go for safety.
Trout have undoubtedly the same instinct ; and
when they drop off the hook by chance, they always
wriggle towards the water, and never away from it.
I saw a trout one day who had been left by the
receding of the river in a shallow pool. When the
water in his narrow place of refuge had got so low
as scarcely to cover him he worked his way out of it,
and I saw him go over the still wet stones straight
to the river, which was about a yard from the pool.
It is difficult, indeed almost impossible, to become

VOL. I. R

242 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVII.

much acquainted with the habits of fish; but could
we pry into their domestic circles, I have no doubt
that we should find them possessed of a far higher
degree of instinct and much greater cleverness in
providing for their food and safety than we give
them credit for. The instinct of fish in foretelling,
or rather in foreknowing, the changes of weather
is very remarkable; and the observant angler may
almost prophesy to a certainty with regard to the
approach of rain or storms by seeing in what mood
for rising at his flies the trout may be. In certain
states of the weather the angler may put away his
tackle without trying to take a single trout ; but
this can only be learned by experience and close
observation.

Sometimes, on a fine June evening, the sea-fish,
such as gurnets and coal-fish, take a large white
fly readily enough, and fight most powerfully
when of any size.

I took a boat one day to cross over to the rocks
of Cromarty, in order to shoot some rock-pigeons.
The breeze was gentle, but sufficient to take us
merrily over ; and putting out a couple of lines
with large white flies, we caught plenty of gurnet,
etc. The fish darted suddenly and with true aim
at the flies when close to the boat as readily as
when at some distance. After coasting along the

JUNK ROCKS OF CROMARTY. 243

rocks for some time, and shooting a few pigeons,
at the risk occasionally of having the bottom of our
boat stove in by the hidden rocks round which
the large tangle floated gracefully in the passing
waves, treacherously concealing the rocks from
which they grew, we turned our boat's head home-
wards. By this time the wind had dropped entirely,
and the tide running strong against us, we had to
row for four hours in a heavy haddock boat to
reach our destination. I had only one man and
a boy with me, the latter of no use ; so I took an
oar myself and pulled steadily on, stopping only
occasionally to haul in a gurnet or other fish.

Both goats and sheep were feeding about the
rocks, and even the latter seemed to get easily to
places which appeared to be reachable only by
means of wings. The small patches of bright
velvety-looking grass, which grew here and there
on corners of ground formed by the debris of the
cliffs, however difficult of access, were all tenanted
by them.

On one bit of emerald-coloured grass, not larger
than a good -sized tablecloth, a sheep and her
young lamb were feeding at their ease. Although
I stopped the boat and examined the place care-
fully, no way of access to this little bit of table-
land could we discover. The well -contented

244 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVII.

animals seemed shut out by perpendicular preci-
pices from all the rest of the world.

As for the goats, no ledge or projection of the
rocks near which grew any tempting bit of herbage
seemed too small or too difficult of approach.

About three weeks ago our tame pochard had
been carried away in a hurricane of wind. To
my surprise, one day this month I saw this same
pochard swimming about the loch alone, and ap-
parently very tame. One of the children who was
with me, and whose own especial property the bird
had been, whistled to it in the same way in which
he had been accustomed to call it, upon which, to
his unbounded joy, it immediately came towards
us, and for some time continued swimming within
a few yards of where we stood, evidently recognis-
ing us, and seeming glad to see us again.

A few days afterwards we again saw him ; but
he was now accompanied by a flock of fourteen
or fifteen others. This was remarkable, both on
account of the time of year, and because this kind
of duck is very rare in this region, and has never
been known to breed in the neighbourhood ; but
all birds seem to have some means of calling and
attracting those of the same species, in a way that
we cannot understand.

My peregrine falcon, who still lives in the

JUNE. PEREGRINE FALCON. 245

garden, now utters a call which is different from
her usual shrill complaining cry, and which occa -
sionally attracts down to her some wandering hawk
of her own kind. The peregrine falcon is well
named, for it is found in all countries.

Our bird from good food, and having always had
the run of a large garden, instead of being confined
in a room or cage, has grown to a great size, and
is in peculiarly fine plumage ; with the dark slate
colour of her upper feathers forming a beautiful
contrast to the rich cream-coloured shade of her
neck and breast.

There is scarcely any common animal too large
for her to attack when she is hungry. She will fly
at dog or cat as readily as at a rabbit or a rat.
The latter animal she kills with great dexterity
and quickness; and I have also found the remains
of half-grown rabbits who, having feloniously made
their way into the garden, have fallen a prey to
her powerful talons.

On changing my residence some weeks ago I
gave a tame peregrine falcon I then had to a friend
in the neighbourhood, who keeps her in a walled
garden, where she soon became quite at home, and
learnt to know her new master as well as she had
known me. She almost startled me one day as I
was walking in his garden with a bunch of dark-

246 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVII.

coloured grapes in my hand. The falcon, as I
passed by her, mistaking the grapes for a bird or
some other prey, made a sudden dash at them, and
with such violence as in an instant to disperse the
whole bunch on the ground, where she hopped
about, examining grape after grape, and at last
having found out her error, she left them in
disgust.

It must be a strong bird that can withstand
the rapid powerful swoop and fierce blow of a
peregrine. I have seen one strike the head off a
grouse or pigeon with one blow, which divided
the neck as completely as if it had been cut off
with a sharp knife.

Few birds of the same kind vary so much in
size as peregrine falcons. Some killed in a wild
state are almost as large as the noble ger falcon.
Altogether the peregrine is the finest of our
British falcons both in size, courage, and beauty.
It possesses, too, the free courage and confidence
which facilitate so greatly the process of training
it to assist us in our field sports.

JULY. ARRIVAL OF SHORE BIRDS. 247

CHAPTEB XVIII.

JULY.

Shore Birds ; arrival of — Foxes — Herring, and Herring -fish-
ing ; Birds, etc., feeding on them — Herring-fishing in Suther-
land— A Sharper — Numbers of Flounders — Young Wild-
fowl— Roe; habits of — Midges — Angling — Floods in the
Findhorn — Prophecy of a Woman — Escape of a Shepherd.

About the second week of July the shore and sands
are enlivened by vast flocks, or rather clouds, of
dunlins, ring-dottrels, and other birds of the same
kind, who now, coming down from their scattered
breeding -places, collect in immense companies.
When the tide ebbs, all these birds are employed
in searching for the minute shell-fish and animal-
cula on which they feed; and vast indeed must be
the supply required. About the lochs and swamps
the young snipes and redshanks begin to fly, and
with the wild-ducks afford plenty of shooting.

The young sea-gulls, too, are numerous about
the bar and sandbanks, and are easily distin-
guished from the old ones by their fine mottled
brown plumage.

Great numbers of all these birds must be killed
by foxes, etc.; for every day I observe their fresh

248 FIELD-NOTES FOE THE YEAR. CH. XVIII.

tracks along the shore and round the lochs. Near
a fox's hole in one of the woods I saw an almost
incredible collection of remains and disjecta membra
of ducks, turkeys, fowls, game of every kind, and
even of roe : apparently a litter of young foxes
had been brought up in it.

On the 12 th of July the Nairn herring-boats are
all launched to reap their uncertain harvest of her-
rings. Of late years the supply does not seem to
be nearly so regular or so much to be depended on
as formerly; and frequently the men are but badly
repaid for all their expense and risk. The cost of
a herring-boat here, complete, with its rigging, nets,
etc., is not much less than ninety pounds; and the
wear and tear of the nets is very great, owing to
bad weather and other causes : the hull alone of
the boat costs about twenty-seven pounds. There
are five men in each boat ; and Nairn alone sends
out about sixty boats, so that from that small place
not less than three hundred able-bodied men are
for six or seven weeks employed in the pursuit of
this small but valuable fish. The herrinsjs are
generally bought up beforehand by the fish-curers
at Helmsdale, on the Sutherland coast, and at other
parts, who contract to take the whole proceeds of the
season's fishing at a fixed price ; so that, notwith-
standing the immense number caught, the supply of

JULY. HERRING AND COD FISHING. 249

fresh herrings through the country is but scanty.
The fish are, with as little delay as possible, packed
in casks with brine, and in this state are exported
to all parts of the kingdom. The barrels are made
principally of birch. Fir will not answer the pur-
pose, as it gives a taste of turpentine to the whole
contents of the barrel. I have been out in a her-
ring-boat during the fishing ; and a very beautiful
sight it is to see the nets hauled in with thousands
of herrings, looking in the moonlight like so many
pieces of the brightest silver flashing in the calm
water. When not employed with the nets, the men
generally fish with hooks for cod, halibut, etc. ; all
fish caught in this manner being the perquisite of
the man who catches them ; and frequently they
make a good profit by this, as the cod collect in vast
numbers about the herring fishing -grounds, and
are caught as quickly as the hooks can be dropped
into the water. Sometimes the cod, their great in-
distinctly-seen forms looking like the pale ghosts of
fish, come close to the surface round the boats, and
seize the bait as soon as it touches the water.
Hauling these heavy gentry up from the depth of
several fathoms is very severe work for the hands.
The herrings seem the most persecuted of all the
races of living creatures. From the moment when
the great shoals of them appear in the north and

250 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVIIL

north-west, they are pursued by thousands and tens
of thousands of birds and countless numbers of
fishes ; and wherever the herring shoals are, there
are these devourers. From the aristocratic salmon
to the ignoble and ferocious dog-fish, all follow up
and prey upon the shoals ; whilst their feathered
foes mark out their track by the constant screaming
and plunging into the water which they keep up
during their pursuit. The Solan geese from mid-
air dash with unerring aim on the bright and silvery
fish ; whilst the cormorants and other diving sea-
fowl pursue the dense crowd with indefatigable
eagerness. In addition to all this, sea-gulls of
every kind, like the skirmishers of an army, keep
up a constant pursuit of all stragglers or wounded
fish which come near enough to the surface to be
caught by these birds, who have neither the power
of the Solan goose, to pounce hawk-like on their
prey (even when at some depth from the surface),
nor the diving power of the cormorant or guillemot,
who can pursue them deep down into the water.
Altogether, a shoal of herring, with its numerous
accompaniments, is a most amusing and interest-
ing sight, independent of the consideration of the
great importance of this fish to mankind, the num-
ber of people to whom it serves as food, and the
number who are employed in its pursuit.

JULY. HERRING-FISHING IN SUTHERLAND. 251

Besides the natives of the fishing villages, a con-
siderable number of Highlanders from the western
part of the country come down to earn a few
pounds during the herring season; it is almost the
only cash these poor fellows get hold of in the
course of the year. Most of the boats belong to
two or three proprietors each, who having in the
course of many years laid by a few pounds, expend
them in the purchase of a herring-boat. These men
hire the services of four or five hands for the season,
the duration of which is about six weeks, and give
them a certain sum, according to agreement, gener-
ally about four to six pounds per man. Unluckily,
many of the families of the herring-fishers derive
but little benefit from the wages earned, as too fre-
quently the men spend all the money, or nearly all,
in drinking and rioting as soon as the fishing is
over, and, instead of providing for their wives and
children, are too apt to lounge about the whisky-
shops as long as a farthing remains, never attend-
ing to the haddock or other fishing till driven again
to exertion by sheer necessity. This, however, does
not apply to the whole race of herring -fishers.
Those men who come to the fishing on the east
coasts from the Highlands generally take their
money carefully home, depending on it for buy-
ing clothes, paying rent, procuring seed-potatoes,

252 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVIIL

and for any purpose where ready money is re-
quired.

To the spectator the pursuit of herrings in the
magnificent sea -lochs of Sutherland is attended
with much that is interesting and beautiful.
When the fleet of boats makes its way up a creek
running far into the land, and overhung by wild
rocky precipices, which protect the boats from every
breath of wind, keeping the sea as smooth as glass,
and echoing and re-echoing every merry shout and
call uttered by the fishermen during their pursuit,
no description can give an adequate idea of the
romantic beauty of such a scene with all its ac-
companiments. This, however, is the bright side
of the picture, for many a dangerous gale and many
a peril have the poor fellows to encounter who
shoot their herring-nets off the bleak eastern coasts
of the country, where they are exposed to the
sudden gales and rolling seas of the Northern and
German Oceans. Frequently, to save their lives,
they are compelled to abandon their nets, fish, and
all. Sometimes boats with their crews go forth to
return no more, nor even to be again heard of in
this world ; and at other times they are driven to
distant ports for safety, losing their tackle and
time, and having to make their way back with
scanty supply of provision to the port from which

JULY. A SHARPER. 253

they sailed, aud probably losing their chance of
fishing for the whole season.

Would it be believed that the herring-fisher,
humble as his situation in life appears, is occasion-
ally the object of a regular and systematic plan of
swindling ? A few years ago, a fellow made it his
occupation and business to waylay these poor men
as they returned home from the fishing-stations
with their hardly-earned money in their pockets.
His plan was to get into conversation with them,
and after walking a mile or two along the road with
them, to take generally one, but sometimes two, into
a whisky-shop, of which there are plenty on every
Highland road, under the pretence of treating
them to a dram. Then, as opportunity offered,
he produced a small flask from his pocket, which
he said contained a sample of some rare whisky
(having previously represented himself as a spirit-
merchant travelling for orders), and as a special
favour gave the fisherman a glass of its contents.
It was no sooner swallowed, however, than the man
became powerless and almost insensible ; upon
which the fellow quietly emptied the pockets of his
victim and walked off, leaving him to recover as he
could: which event in most instances did not take
place for some hours afterwards. If, in going out,
he met with the keeper of the whisky-shop, he told

254 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVIII.

him that the man was asleep from fatigue, or made
some such excuse to escape suspicion. In this
manner the fellow robbed above twenty fishermen
of the whole proceeds of their fishing before the
country got too hot for him ; when he went off by
the coach and was no more heard of. The whole
proceeding was described to me by one of his
victims (at present in my service) who was robbed
of about five pounds ; and, notwithstanding the
cruelty of the case, I could not help being amused
at the coolness with which the swindler appears to
have turned the poor fellow's pockets inside out, the
man all the while being quite conscious of what was
going on, though utterly unable to move or speak.
To add insult to injury too, on going out the
swindler told the landlady that he was sorry to say
the fisherman had got quite drunk, notwithstand-
ing all the efforts he had made to prevent it and
all the good advice he had given him. When at
length the poor fellow recovered his senses and
power of speech, he found it quite impossible to
persuade his wife and friends that he had not wil-
fully and advisedly got drunk and squandered his
money. However, at last the fair one was pacified,
though not much comforted ; her husband's inno-
cence being proved by the testimony of others who
had been robbed in a similar manner, and by the

JULY. FLOUNDERS. 255

verdict of the doctor, who at once saw that some
strong narcotic had been given to the man.

Among the available products of the sandy
creeks and bays on this coast are immense quan-
tities of excellent flounders. These fish come in
with every tide, and though the great bulk of them
return to the deep water, vast numbers remain in
the pools which are formed at low water upon the
sands. We occasionally drag some of these pools
with a small trout-net, and are sure to catch a large
quantity of these fish in one or two hauls. The
flounders are of two kinds, the gray-backed flounder
and a larger sort which has red spots. The latter,
however, is a far inferior fish, the flesh being soft
and flabby. Notwithstanding the abundance and
excellence of the flounders, left, as it were, for any
person to pick up, with scarcely any exertion, the
country people very seldom take the trouble to
catch them, excepting now and then by the line,
in a lazy, inefficient way.

July, although not a month during which the
sportsman finds much employment for his gun, is
still to me a most interesting season. Every day
that I walk by the lochs and swamps I see fresh
arrivals in the shape of broods and flocks of young
teal and wild-ducks, and this year there are numbers
of pochards swimming about in compact companies.

256 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVIII.

Occasionally, too, when walking near the covers, an
old roe, accompanied by her two large-eyed fawns,
bounds out of some clump of juniper or brambles ;
and after standing for a short time to take a good
look at me, springs into the wood and is soon lost
to view ; or an old solitary buck, driven by the
midges from the damp shades of the woods, startles
me by his sudden appearance near the loch side,
springing over the furze and broom, on his way
back to the more extensive covers.

The roe have a singular habit of chasing each
other in regular circles round particular trees in
the woods, cutting a deep circular path in the
ground. I never could make out the object of this
manoeuvre, but the state of the ground proves that
the animals must have run round and round the
tree for hours together.

Tormented by midges and ticks, the bucks often
wander restlessly through the woods at this season,
uttering their bark-like cry; so like indeed is this
sound to the bark of a dog, that it often deceives
an unaccustomed ear. Of all torments produced
by insects I can conceive nothing much worse than
the attack carried on by the myriads of midges
which swarm towards evening in the woods, par-
ticularly where the soil is at all damp. For a
certain time the smoke of a cigar or pipe protects

JULY. FLOODS IN THE FINDHORN. 257

one ; but no human skin can endure for any
length of time the inexpressible irritation pro-
duced by these insects.

This month is not, generally speaking, favour-
able to the angler. Salmon seem in most rivers to
have given up moving, and the trout follow their
example. Indeed the rivers are at this period very
subject to great changes, being one day bright, clear,
and very low ; and perhaps the next flooded over
bank and brae by some sudden and tremendous
thunder-storm in the higher grounds, which renders
the water thick and turbid. The Findhorn is pecu-
liarly subject to these rapid changes, flowing as it
does for a great part of its course through a moun-
tainous, undrainecl, and uncultivated country, sur-
rounded by lofty and rugged heights, from the
clefts of which innumerable streams descend into
the valley of the Findhorn. This river, on any
sudden and violent storm of rain (fed as it is by so
many burns), rises sometimes almost instantan-
eously; and what a few minutes before was a bright
clear stream, fordable at all the shallower j)laces,
suddenly becomes a turbid swollen torrent, which
neither man nor horse can cross. In those parts of
the river where the channel is narrow and confined
between steep and overhanging rocks these sudden

risings take place more rapidly than in the lower
vol. i. s

258 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. OH. XVIII.

parts near the sea, where the river has room to
spread itself out.

One day towards the end of the month I went
with my two boys and a servant to shoot rabbits
on the island formed by the junction of the Find-
horn and another stream near the sea. The river
was so low, in consequence of long-continued dry
weather, that we crossed it on foot at a shallow
where the water did not reach to our knees. The
day was hot and the air heavy and oppressive ; and
although we had not had a drop of rain, we heard
loud thunder during the whole morning, and saw
heavy black clouds hanging in the west over the
mountains through which the river runs. After
idling about some time and shooting a few rabbits,
etc., we went towards a small cottage built on the
highest part of the island, in order to speak to the
people who inhabited it. Whilst standing close
to the door we heard a sudden scream from a
woman at work in the little plot of garden, and
looking round we at once saw the cause. The river,
as the woman emphatically expressed it, was "com-
ing down." Over a wide space of sand and shingle,
interspersed with patches of broom and furze,
where a few moments before we had been hunting
rabbits, there now came rushing clown a wall of
muddy water, carrying with it turf, stones, and

JULY. FLOODS IN THE F1NDH0RN. 259

trees, rolling over and over, and uprooting every
bush which opposed it. Several of the trees must
have come some miles down the river, being large
Scotch firs, with their branches, stem, and roots,
the latter frequently still carrying in their twisted
fibres great masses of the rocks on which they had
grown. The water was coming down like a wall
of several feet high, sweeping everything before it ;
and in far less time than I have taken to describe
it, we were surrounded on all sides with its muddy
torrent. Independently of the risk of being-
crushed to death by the floating and rolling trees,
its rapidity was so great that the strongest
swimmer could not have crossed it.

On came the flood, narrowing our little island
every instant, by undermining and washing away
the bank on which the cottage stood. Nevertheless
I anticipated no more inconvenience than perhaps
having to pass the night where we were : for the
building had stood all the torrents of the Findhorn
since the great flood of 1829, although its inhabit-
ants had more than once been cut off from any
communication with the mainland for several days
together. But the water was already higher than
it had ever been since that flood, and the women
of the house were weeping in despair, their terrors
being augmented by a prophecy which had lately

260 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVIII.

been uttered by an old bag in the neighbourhood,
to the effect that all the country within six miles of
the coast should be swallowed up by floods during
the last week of this very July. So strong an
effect had this prediction on the minds of the lower
orders, that almost all the Highlanders who had
come down to the coast, according to their custom,
for the herring-fishing, had returned homewards
without putting their foot in a boat, to the great
loss and inconvenience of the owners of the boats
and nets, who had reckoned on the usual assist-
ance of these men. It is singular that floods of
a most mischievous and unusual extent should
actually have taken place at the very time this
woman had foretold.

For my own part, I felt chiefly annoyed at the
alarm our absence would occasion at home, as it was
already evening, and we had no means of making-
signals or of sending word where we were, it being
quite impossible to cross the river at any point.

The water still rose, and continued to do so for
half an hour longer, washing away our standing-
place slowly but constantly. On looking round I
could not but feel most grateful at our not having
been overtaken by it before we reached this part of
the island. Had we been in many of the places
over which we had so lately passed, we must have

JULY. FLOODS IN THE FINDHORN. 261

been swept away at the first rise of the river, or, at
best, have had to wade and scramble, at the risk
of our lives, to some elevated point of land.

While standing near the house we saw two or
three boats belonging to the ferryman and the
salmon-fishers whirl past us. The flood having
come on without the least warning, their owners
had had no time to secure them. The rise, as I have
said, continued for about half an hour, then sud-
denly it stopped, and in a few minutes the water
began visibly to fall. Before long it fell more-
quickly, but still in no proportion to the rapidity
with which it had risen. After it had been sinking
somewhat above an hour, the tops of furze bushes
began to appear above the water, and soon after-
wards we saw a boat belonging to the salmon-fishers,
well manned, and assisted by a rope held on the
shore, coming down to a cottage a quarter of a mile
above us. The main stream of the river was still
quite impracticable; but this boat was coming-
down an old channel which was generally dry. By
firing off my gun several times I caught the atten-
tion of the crew; and I was quite certain that they
would know who it was that wanted help, and
would come to us if possible. When the torrent
had become somewhat less violent they came down,
whirling through the flood to where we were. They

262 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVIII.

took us on board, and by dint of skilful and strong
rowing, and help from the rope held by those on
shore, we were at length landed in a field, not across
the real channel of the river, but across the flooded
land on the other side of us, where the force of the
water was less violent. Although I have been in
a good many situations of danger by water, I never
felt so helpless as whilst we were dashing about at
the mercy of the torrents, over bushes, banks, and
stranded trees ; had we come hi contact with any
one of which our small boat must have been upset,
and then all chance of escape would have been out
of the question. However, we landed safely, and
although we were not above a quarter of a mile
from my house, we had to walk round by the chain
bridge, a distance of five miles. We got home soon
after dark, and before our absence had caused any
alarm. With us the rain did not begin till the
evening, but we afterwards heard that, farther to
the west, it had rained in torrents for many hours
during the morning, accompanied by a most terrific
thunderstorm, and that a great deal of damage had
been clone by the overflowing of different streams,
which had broken up several bridges, and injured
a great extent of land. A poor woman who hap-
pened to be wading the river a mile above us, at
a place where it is divided into several streams,

JULY. ESCAPE OF A SHEPHERD. 263

was caught in one of them, and although she man-
aged to get upon a high bank, the flood soon
reached her, and she was kept a prisoner, stand-
ing in the water, which at one time reached to her
middle, till the fishermen heard her cries, and suc-
ceeded in rescuing her. Had we been in many
spots where we fished almost every day nothing
could have saved our lives.

A singular instance of preservation from a simi-
lar danger happened during this same flood, but on
a different river. On perceiving that the water was
rising, a young man hurried across a shallow part
to an island, on which were a few sheep grazing,
intending to recross with them to the mainland
before the flood had attained any serious height.
He was, however, out in his reckoning ; for he had
scarcely set foot on the island when the river
became so swollen that it was quite impossible for
him to return. The flood soon covered the island,
and the man had great difficulty to keep his footing,
being up to his waist in water. To add to his
danger, great pieces of timber and floating trees
came sweeping past, any one of which, had it struck
him, would have at once dashed him off the island.
Several people who were on the shore, although so
near, could do nothing to assist him. Presently
the flood brought down, right upon the island, a

264 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVIII.

gigantic tree, with all its roots and branches, and
it seemed certain that he must be swept away at
once. He was given up by all the spectators, and
they turned away their eyes, not daring to look
at this last act of the scene. However, the very
moment when the danger seemed the greatest was
that of his deliverance ; for the tree, in consequence
of its great size and weight, grounded when within
a yard of the man. He managed to scramble on
to its branches, and to maintain his position until
the waters subsided.

What becomes of the trout during these sudden
floods it is not easy to say, unless, warned by
instinct of the approaching danger, they retire to
the deep holes and recesses under the banks, where
the force of the water cannot reach them. It is
very seldom that, on the receding of a flood, fish
are found on the land, though certainly it occa-
sionally happens that they are bewildered, and are
either left high and dry or in the small pools at
the sides of the river. When, also, the same cause
that has made the stream overflow has filled the
water with clay and dirt, the trout become sick
and weak, and are unable to contend with a force
of current which they could easily have withstood
in clear water.

As the flood decreases both trout and eels take

JULY.

INSTINCT OF ANIMALS.

265

to all the eddies and corners to feed on the
numerous worms and grubs which are washed off
the banks and fields into the water.

Very few birds, or, comparatively speaking, even
land animals, fall victims to floods. The rabbits
manage to climb up into the highest furze bushes,
or even into the branches of trees, and it is very
seldom that any birds make their nests within
reach of this danger. In the same manner that
terns and other birds who lay their eggs on the
sea-shore seem to have an instinct which teaches
them the exact line to which the highest spring-
tides ever reach, so do the land birds avoid build-
ing their nests in places to which the land floods
ever ascend.

266 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIX.

CHAPTEE XIX.

AUGUST.

Golden Plover — Ring- dottrel — Migratory Birds — Butterflies —
Crabs ; their manner of casting their shells — The Sea Angler
— The Deal Fish — Habits of Woodcocks — A pet Roe —
Grouse-shootings and Grouse — Wild-fowl.

During the first part of this month the mountain-
bred birds, such as golden plover, dottrel, curlew,
etc., are daily seen to collect more and more in
flocks on the sea-shore or other places which suit
their habits. In the lower parts of the country the
dottrel is now a very rare bird, and it is seldom that
many of them are killed, although they are so tame
and easy of approach as to have obtained for them-
selves the local name of the " foolish dottrel." It
is one of the peculiarities of this bird that one pair
only breeds on the same hill or mountain. Whilst
you may see thousands of golden plovers on a hill-
side during the breeding season, you will never find
above one pair of dottrel on each ridge. The ring-
dottrel and other shore birds become at this season
more numerous day by clay. Many insectivorous
birds, also, such as the whitethroat, redstart, etc.,
seem to draw gradually towards the eastern coasts

AUG. MIGRATORY BIRDS — BUTTERFLIES. 267

of the kingdom, as if in readiness to depart. The
wheatears almost entirely leave the wild rocky
mountains of the North, where they breed, and
are during this month caught in great numbers
on the south downs of Sussex.

The regularity of the appearance and disappear-
ance of birds in different districts is one of the most
striking and interesting parts of their history, and
is a subject worthy of more attention than it has
hitherto received. It is well known to many
sportsmen that woodcocks appear in certain woods,
and even under certain holly bushes, or other fav-
ourite spots, on the same day of the same month,
year after year ; and in like manner and with equal
punctuality do numberless smaller birds, of less
notoriety and of less consequence to the sportsman,
make their annual Sittings northwards or south-
wards. On referring to notes which I have made
during several years, I find that I have seen many
migratory birds for the first time in each year,
on either the very same day of the month or
within one day of it.

Even in the insect world the same punctuality in
their change of abode is kept up, and an observant
"out-of-door" entomologist will tell almost to a
day when any particular moth or butterfly will first
appear. The exclusiveness of some butterflies as

268 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIX.

to their locality is a very striking peculiarity of this
insect. You may, year after year, find a certain
kind in great numbers within a space of a hundred
yards, but you may search in vain for a single
specimen over the whole surrounding country ;
although both as to plants and soil it may seem as
favourable for their production as the spot to which
they confine themselves. I was told by a clever
entomologist that I should find any number of
specimens of a particular butterfly, which I wanted
to procure, in a certain stone quarry, or rather
where a quarry had once been, during the first and
second week in August, but at no other time and in
no other situation. My friend was perfectly right.
Then and there, and then and there only, could I
find this particular butterfly. There are few dis-
tricts of the kingdom where a man of leisure would
not find plenty to interest and amuse him were he
to direct his attention to the peculiar habits and
instincts of living animals from the highest to the
lowest, from the eagle to the insect which he
treads unconsciously under his feet every step he
takes. People little know by how many natural
objects of beauty and interest they are everywhere
surrounded. How true is a French saying that
" L'oisivete est la mere de toutes les vices ;" and
how many cares and troubles would thousands

AUG. CRABS. 269

avoid did they employ their leisure hours in such
pursuits instead of letting idleness lead them into
numberless evil habits ! It is for this reason that
I always like to see the study of natural history
encouraged in children.

At the beginning of August I frequently find the
crabs (which frequent the rocks left exposed at low
water) either just about to change their shell, or
just after having changed it. Nothing can be more
curious than the manner in which they contrive to
draw their legs and claws out of their last year's
covering, casting their entire shell perfectly whole
and unbroken. A tough skin seems to form over the
flesh, under the shell, and of the same colour, which
apparently hardens rapidly by exposure (when it
is uncovered), and this skin forms the new shell.

The poor animals are quite helpless till this
hardens, and are at the mercy of their numerous
enemies. The fishermen say that whilst the female
crab is in this weak state the male constantly
attends on and protects her. I have myself often
seen a crab in her still unhardened shell, closely
accompanied by a larger crab, whose shell was per-
fectly hard, and who offered battle most valiantly
when he and his spouse were approached.

During the herring-fishing it frequently happens
that some strange and rarely seen monster of the

270 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIX.

sea gets either entangled in the nets or is cast upon
the shore during his pursuit of the shoals of smaller
fish. Among others I have more than once seen a
most hideous large-headed brute of a fish, whom
the country people call sometimes "the sea-devil,"
sometimes " the sea-angel," but whose more regu-
lar cognomen is, I believe, "the sea-angler." The
first name he owes to his excessive and wicked-
looking ugliness; the second must have been given
him ironically; whilst the third is derived from his
reputed habit of attracting fish to their destruction
by a very wily ruse. He buries himself, it is said,
in the sands by scraping a hole with his two most
unseemly and deformed -looking "hands," which
are placed below what may be called his chin.
Being in this way quite concealed, he allows some
long, worm-like appendages, which grow from the
top of his head, to wave and float above the surface
of the sand : fish taking these for some kind of
food are attracted to the spot, when the concealed
monster by a sudden spring manages to ingulf
his victims in the fearfully-wide cavity of his
mouth, which is armed with hundreds of teeth
sloping inwards, and as hard and sharp as needles,
so that nothing which has once entered it can
escape. So runs the tale, the exact truth of
which I am not prepared to vouch for.

AUG. DEAL-FISH— WOODCOCKS. 271

A rare and singularly formed fish was once
brought to me during the month of August by the
fishermen. It is called the "Deal-fish," or, locally,
the " Saw-fish." The latter name is very expres-
sive of its shape and proportions, the fish being flat
vertically instead of, like a sole or flounder, hori-
zontally. The following is the description of the
fish which I set down at the time :

Length, 3 feet 6 inches.

Depth, 7 inches.

Greatest thickness, between half and three quarters of an inch .

Colour, bright silver, with one very thin crimson fin running

the whole length of its back.
The tail very transparent, fan-shaped, and of a bright crimson.
A large flat eye ;
And a small mouth, which the fish had a peculiar power of

elongating to a considerable extent.

It had managed to get hooked through the back
by a common haddock-hook. I wished to have
preserved the skin, as I believe that there are not
above one or two perfect specimens extant; but,
unluckily, through a mistake the fish was destroyed.

August 4th. — We caught a young woodcock full
grown in one of the woods near here. A dog dis-
turbed it in the cover ; and it flew fluttering into
the road, where it allowed itself to be caught by
the hand, although it was quite as large as an old
bird, and its wings apparently fully feathered.

272 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIX.

The woodcock breeds every season in the north
of Scotland, not only in the large fir plantations,
but also in the smaller patches of birch, etc., which
fringe the shores of many of the most northern
lakes. That those bred in the country migrate I
have no doubt, as they all invariably disappear
for two or three months between summer and the
first frosts of winter. As I have seen their nests
at all times from March to August, it is natural
to suppose that the woodcock breeds more than
once in the season.

I have again, this year, seen the old woodcocks
carrying their young down to the soft marshy
places to feed. Unfitted as their feet appear to
be for grasping anything, the old birds must have
no slight labour in carrying their whole family
(generally consisting of four) every evening to the
marshes, and back again in the morning. They
always return before sunrise.

Occasionally I have come upon a brood of young-
woodcocks in a dark, quiet, swampy part of the
woods, near which they had probably been bred.
In a case of this kind we may suppose that the old
birds are saved the trouble of conveying their young
to a distant feeding-place ; but as the young birds
are frequently hatched in long heather, in dry situ-
ations, and far from any marshes, they would in-

AUG. PET ROE. 273

evitably perish in the nest were they not daily
carried backwards and forwards by their parents.
The quantity of worms required to sustain one of
these birds would astonish those town-bred natur-
alists who gravely assert that the woodcock " lives
on suction."

Whilst walking in a wood I was surprised at
seeing a roe standing within a little distance of me,
with a silver bell hung round its neck. Having
taken a good look at me, the beautiful little animal
bounded off into the recesses of the wood, ringing
its bell, to the astonishment of the rabbits who were
feeding about the openings of the cover. This roe
belonged to the ladies at Darnaway; and, with the
usual wilfulness of such pets, had wandered away
from its proper home, where it lived in security and
plenty, petted by all, and had taken up its abode in
the wood, which was several miles from Darnaway,
and where it ran the risk of being worried by colley
dogs or shot while feeding in the neighbouring
corn-fields. Once or twice afterwards, when I was
shooting in this wood, the beagles started and ran
the roe some distance before I could stop them.
As long as he continued ringing his bell through
this cover I seldom saw any other roe in it, although
at other times it was a favourite resort of these
beautiful creatures. Once it followed, for some

vol. I. T

274 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIX.

distance towards Darnaway, a servant who had
been accustomed to feed and pet it, but taking
alarm at some people at work in a field it turned
back again. I do not know what was the end of
the pretty animal, but towards the winter it dis-
appeared, and I fear it was shot by some poaching
fellow whilst feeding in the fields where it was
often seen. Its silver bell made it both an easier
and a more valuable victim.

August 12 th. — On this (to so many people) dies
memorabilis, whilst shooting with a friend in Inver-
ness-shire, I found a few old grouse lying dead,
killed by the prevailing disease, which of late years
has committed such havoc amongst these birds in
certain districts; some which we killed were already
attacked by it. Whenever this was the case we in-
variably observed that the plumage of the bird was
much altered, having a rusty red appearance instead
of the fine rich colour characteristic of the grouse.
The feathers, too, had an unnatural kind of dryness
about them, which gave the bird a bleached, un-
healthy, look. In those grouse which I opened
myself the presence of the disease was indicated
by the liver being apparently rotten.

Whatever is the cause of this mortality, it is a
matter of some consequence to the proprietors of
those districts where the grouse-shootings let for as

AUG. GROUSE -SHOOTINGS AND GROUSE. 275

high or a higher rent than the sheep pasturage; for
it can scarcely be expected that Englishmen will
continue paying at the rate they do for the right of
shooting over tracts of ground where the grouse are
becoming almost extinct, as is the case in several
places. Instead of sparing the birds where they
are attacked by this epidemic, I should be much
more inclined to shoot down every grouse in the
infected part of the hills ; and I would continue to
do this as long as any appearance of the disease
remained. I would then give them a year or two
of rest, according to the numbers and appearance
of the birds. This seems to me the most likely
way to check the destruction caused by what the
keepers call the " grouse disease." In some parts
of the Highlands there were scarcely any young
birds seen in August, and the old grouse were
picked up in dozens, dead on the heather.

I observed one peculiarity in the habits of the
grouse in 1 847, which was new to me. They were
collected in large flocks on the 12 th of August in
the fields of oats in the elevated districts, which
were at that time perfectly unripe and green. In
every field near the moors there were large flocks
of the old birds busy in the midst of the corn ; but
they always took the precaution to leave some sen-
tries outside, who, perched on a piece of rock or an

276 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIX.

old wall, stood with their necks stretched to their
utmost height, on the look-out for any approaching
enemy. When the corn is ripe, and especially after
it is cut and in sheaves on the fields, the grouse
are very fond of it, and fill their crops daily with
oats, like so many chickens, but before this season I
never saw them attack the green and empty oats.
There was at this time a very unusual deficiency
in the growth and bloom of the heather, causing
a great scarcity of the tender shoots which form
the principal food of grouse ; and this may have
driven them to the new kind of food, to which
they appeared to take very kindly.

It is in the oat-fields belonging to the small
farmers and others living near the grouse hills
where the greatest havoc is committed amongst
grouse by the poachers, for there they can be caught
with the greatest facility, in any number that may
be required for the market ; and it is more diffi-
cult for keepers to prevent this kind of poaching
than any other, as it may be carried on by girls
or children late in the evening and early in the
morning, the snares being removed during the
daytime, or on the appearance of a keeper, whose
approach in this kind of open country may be
perceived from a sufficient distance to enable the
poacher to remove all traces of his proceedings.

AUG. GROUSE -SHOOTINGS AND GROUSE. 277

Thousands of grouse are killed iu this manner for
the London and other markets.

This year, 1848, on the very first day of the
shooting, I happened to be in a poulterer's shop in
a large town in Northumberland, when a servant
came in to buy a brace or two of "well-kept grouse,
Jit for immediate use," for his master: and a brace
was instantly handed to him from amongst a
great number, which looked as if they had been
killed a week or ten days ; at any rate they were
nearly putrid, and according to my taste fit only
to be flung away. If this system commences so
long before the birds are legally saleable, we may
easily imagine what an immense number of grouse
are illegally destroyed during the whole season,
in spite of all the expenses incurred to preserve
them.

In my opinion this wholesale system of poaching
might easily be put a stop to by the proprietors of
the land, who, by stringent agreements with their
sheep-tenants and cotters, might prevent all tres-
passing on the hills, much more easily than the
tenants of shootings can do; and, really, considering
the great profit in many ways that this bird is to
the Highland landowners, it seems both their in-
terest and duty to protect and assist sportsmen in
every possible manner in preserving the game :

278 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIX.

whereas, let the matter be glossed over as it may,
every lessee of grouse-shootings knows how very
little assistance and encouragement he receives
from nine proprietors out of ten, notwithstanding
the liberal and sometimes exorbitant rents which
are paid. There are, however, many exceptions
to this state of things ; and landlords are yet to
be found who identify the interest of their tenant
with their own.

The rage for grouse-shooting, at present so great,
is not likely to change, like many other fashions.
The fine air, the freedom, the scenery, and all the
other agremens accompanying this amusement,
must always make it the most fascinating kind of
sport in the way of shooting which the British isles
or indeed almost any country can afford. The bird,
too, in beauty and game-like appearance, is not to
be equalled. In fact, as long as grouse and heather
exist, and the nature of man is imbued with the
same love for sport and manly exercise as it now
is, grouse-shooting will be one of our favourite re-
laxations from the graver cares of life.

Although, like others, I am excessively fond of
this sport, yet I care little for numbers of slain ;
and when following it, independently and alone, am
not occupied solely by the anxiety of bagging so
many brace. My usual plan when I set out is to

AUG. GROUSE- SHOOTINGS AND GROUSE. 279

fix on some burn, some cool and grassy spring, or
some hill summit which commands a fine view, as
the extremity of my day's excursion. To this point
then I walk, killing what birds come in my way,
and after resting myself and dogs, I return by some
other route. Undoubtedly the way to kill the
greatest number of grouse is to hunt one certain
tract of ground closely and determinedly; searching
every spot as if you were looking for a lost needle,
and not leaving a yard of heather untried. This is
the most killing system, as every practised grouse-
shooter knows ; but to me it is far less attractive
than a good stretch across a range of valley and
mountain, though attended with fewer shots. I am
also far more pleased by seeing a brace of good
dogs do their work well, and exhibiting all their
fine instinct and skill, than in toiling after twice the
number when hunted by a keeper, whose only plan
of breaking the poor animals in is to thrash them
until they are actually afraid to use half the won-
derful intellect which nature has given them.

Although the 20 th of August is the day ap-
pointed for legal execution of the blackcock, yet in
most seasons the 1st of September would be quite
soon enough for the shooting to begin, as until the
commencement of September the young birds have
seldom acquired their strength or plumage, and can

280 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XIX.

be knocked down before the pointer's nose with a
stick almost as easily as shot ; indeed I have fre-
quently seen them caught in the hand. When in
full vigour and plumage there is no handsomer bird
than an old blackcock, and although his size makes
him an easy mark, his cunning and strength are
pretty good securities for his not falling too readily
to the sportsman's gun. But in August even the
old birds are not fit to shoot, being neither in per-
fect condition nor in full plumage. The blackcock
is much more addicted to feeding in the corn-fields
than the grouse is, and takes long flights for the
purpose of reaching some favourite stubble-field.

Few stags have got the velvet off their horns
during August, except in favoured situations,
where good feeding in the spring and winter has
enabled them to keep up their condition and the
strength which is required for the production and
growth of their weighty antlers.

I find that towards the end of August, when the
hill lakes and swamps are much disturbed by
grouse-shooters, the wild-ducks bring down their
young broods in great numbers, both to the bay and
to the lochs. Every evening I can make sure of
killing a brace or two as they fly to the corn-fields
regularly when the sun sets ; indeed they some-
times do considerable damage by trampling down

AUG. WILD-FOWL. 281

and eating the corn before it is cut. But some of
the wild-ducks which are killed in the bogs and
swamps have their crops full of the seeds of a coarse
grass which grows in these places, and also of some
of the wild-fruits, such as blackberries, etc. In-
deed I fancy that a wild-duck is about as omniv-
orous a creature as can be found, almost as much
so as the man who eats him : nothing which he
can swallow comes amiss to him, whether fish, flesh,
or grain. The teal, on the contrary, appears to be
almost wholly insectivorous : at least these birds
feed only in the swamps and shallow pools, never
taking to the fields for grain or seeds, but living
entirely on aquatic insects and some few small
plants.

Although the widgeon breed in Sutherlandshire,
and perhaps in other parts of Scotland, I never saw
one in this part of the country during July or
August. I believe that this bird feeds neither on
grain nor insects, but on aquatic grasses; and when
these are not to be had, he grazes readily on the
grass-fields and banks near the sea.

The great art in getting at most wild-fowl is to
discover their feeding-places ; for to these they
always resort at certain times either of the day or
of the tide, some kinds being more dependent than
others on the ebb and flow of the sea ; whilst the

282

FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR.

CH. XIX.

common mallard is almost wholly nocturnal in his
feeding, and does not regulate his movements by
the state of the tide.

The sheldrakes, who were so numerous a few
weeks ago about the sandbanks and bar, have now
nearly all disappeared, and their places are sup-
plied by innumerable curlews and other waders,
all of whom appear to find their food in the moist
sands left by the ebb-tide, which in this country
contain an endless supply of shellfish of different
kinds, from the minutest species, fit only to feed
the dunlin and sandpiper, to those which serve for
food to the oyster-catcher, whose powerful bill is
well adapted to breaking up the strongest cockles
and mussels which are found in this district.

SEPT. PARTRIDGE- SHOOTING. 283

CHAPTER XX.

SEPTEMBER.

The 1st of September — Partridge-shooting — Migratory Birds —
Grouse -shooting in September — Widgeon — Jack-snipes;
Breeding places of — Landrail — White variety of the Eagle —
Sea - trout fisher — Stag's horns — Deer-stalking — Cunning of
Deer — Disappointed in getting a Shot.

The 1st of September is by no means so marked a
day with sportsmen in the north as it is witli those
in the southern parts of the kingdom. I well re-
member the eager haste with which, when a boy,
I used to sally forth at the earliest dawn to wage
war on the partridges. The birds, however, at that
hour, are restless and on the alert, the ground is
wet, and the sport unsatisfactory ; and in fact no
one, I believe, who can number more than sixteen
summers ever got up at three o'clock to shoot
partridges without repenting his undue activity
before mid-day.

In this country very little of the corn is cut at
the commencement of September, and I never at-
tempt to shoot more partridges than I may happen
to want for the larder. As long as the fields are
covered with standing corn the only way is to hunt

284 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. OH. XX.

quietly round the hedgerows, and banks exposed to
the sun, or in dry soiled turnip-fields, during the
middle of the day, when the birds come to bask
and scratch. Both partridges and hares stick close
to standing corn as long as an acre of it remains.

In this country, however, the wild-fowl and other
birds which frequent the shores and rocks always
afford me as amusing sport as the best partridge-
shooting; and at this season there is always a
constant and endless variety of migratory birds
collecting previous to their departure.

There is one very numerous class of birds, the
sandpipers and others of the same kind, which are
very little known. Even the best and most quoted
authors of works on natural history are constantly
in error with regard to the names and classification
of these birds, and although I do not pretend to be
acquainted with all, or nearly all, the varieties, I
know enough of them to perceive that the numerous
changes of plumage which each species goes
through, according to their age, sex, and the season
of the year, have completely misled most naturalists.
Indeed to know these birds perfectly requires much
Greater attention and more minute examination than
has yet been expended upon them. Such also is the
case as regards sea-gulls, and some kinds of hawks,
though with these the difficulty is not so great.

SEPT. GROUSE -SHOOTING IN SEPTEMBER. 285

I always find that the grouse are wilder in
September than in any other month. They are
well scared and driven about by the August shoot-
ing, and are not yet tamed down by the autumnal
frosts and cold.

In this part of Scotland we have much wild and
stormy weather in September ; and many an
English sportsman towards the end of the month,
when located in some small shooting-lodge, in the
wild and distant glens of the inland mountains,
begins to think of turning his way southwards.
The incessant rain, driving pitilessly down the glen
where his confined and badly-built cottage is placed,
rivers turned into torrents, burns changed into
rivers, and the grouse unapproachably wild — all
combine to drive away many a southern sportsman
before the end of this month ; and yet October
and November often are better months for grouse-
shooting than the latter part of September.

Here, in Morayshire, we have a more favourable
climate, and it is very rarely that there is any long
continuance of bad weather in the lower parts of
the county. Many a storm passes harmlessly over
our heads, to fall on the high grounds a few miles
from the coast. These storms of rain or snow, al-
though they pass over us, have always the effect of
lowering the quicksilver in the weather-glass, as

286 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XX.

certainly as if they fell here, instead of only
threatening to do so.

The earliest day on which I ever killed or saw
widgeon in Morayshire was on the 8th of Septem-
ber, on which day I shot a brace, late in the even-
ing, as they flew over my head on their way from
the bay to some inland lake. They were both
young birds. The flock altogether consisted of
eight or nine. In the same year I killed a jack-
snipe on the 16th, which is far earlier than these
birds are usually seen (I have never yet ascertained
that they breed in Britain), and during the next ten
days I killed four others in nearly the same place,
some of which were undoubtedly young birds. It
may, therefore, be supposed that a chance pair may
occasionally breed in the North, as it does not
seem likely that those which I killed had been bred
out of the kingdom. In no other year have I ever
seen a jack-snipe before the 8th of October ; even
that is very early. I have made much inquiry on
this subject in Sutherlandshire and in other likely
localities ; but have invariably found that where
the jack-snipe has been supposed to have been seen
during the breeding-season it has turned out to
be the dunlin, or the common snipe. Neither
their eggs nor young have ever been found, nor has
the old bird been seen, for a certainty, in Britain

SEPT. LANDRAILS — WHITE SEA-EAGLE. 287

during the summer season, excepting in the case
of a single disabled bird.

The landrail is seldom seen here after the corn
is cut, notwithstanding the great numbers which
breed in the neighbourhood. It is peculiarly a
summer bird ; and although its cry is hoarse and
inharmonious, I never hear it without pleasure,
associated as it has become in my mind with the
fine light nights of June and May. A fearless little
bird it is, too, when caught uninjured. I have seen
it immediately after being made a prisoner, and
while held in the hand, peck at and catch with
wonderful rapidity and precision any flies that
might pitch within its reach. Its manner of de-
parture from this country would appear to be still
unexplained, as it is never seen en route either by
landsmen or sailors. When this and other insect-
ivorous birds leave us, winter visitors arrive. The
turnstone, a bird that breeds in Norway, arrives
in this country at the first commencement of the
month, but appears only to make it a temporary
resting-place on its way to the south.

Like many other birds, the eagle sometimes ex-
hibits great changes in the colour of his plumage.
This year during the month of September I saw a
freshly killed sea-eagle, whose colour was a fine
silvery white, without the slightest mixture of

288 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XX.

brown. The bird was killed in Sutherlandshire ;
and I was informed that another eagle had been
seen in its company with the same unusual plumage.
The bird had quite arrived at maturity, but did not
appear to be a very old one. Partridges, pheasants,
grouse, and many small birds occasionally appear
in a snow-white dress ; but the birds of prey
seldom change their colour. A black swan we
read of as an example of a "rara avis;" what
must then a white crow have been thought of by
the augurs and omen-seekers among the ancients ?
Yet rooks and jackdaws, both parti-coloured and
white, are by no means so uncommon with us as
to be looked on as wonders.

This white eagle had been probably bred on some
of the wild rocky headlands of the north coast of
Sutherlandshire, where not even the value of the
eggs can at all times induce the shepherds of the
neighbourhood to attempt their capture. The sea-
eagle is, in its habits, a sluggish, vulture-like bird,
feeding chiefly on the dead fish and other animal
substances which are cast up by the sea on these
lonely and rugged shores, and seldom attacking the
lambs of the farmer to the same extent as the golden
eagle does. Although it is frequently seen, and
its sharp bark-like cry is heard far inland, the usual
hunting-ground of the sea-eagle is along the shore,

SEPT. SEA-EAGLE— SEA-TROUT. 289

where it can feed on its foul prey, undisturbed and
unseen by human eye for months together. Like
the golden eagle, this bird sometimes so gorges it-
self with food as to become helpless, and if then
met with, may be knocked down by a stick, or
captured alive before it can rise from the ground
— a sad and ignoble fate for the king of birds !
After all, the eagle is but a sorry representative
of royalty and kingly grandeur ; for although his
flight is noble and magnificent, and his strength
and power astonishing, there is a cruelty and
treachery about the disposition of the bird which
render it unfit to be educated and trained like the
peregrine and other falcons ; nor does it ever be-
come attached to its keeper.

On the 2 8th of September the last house-swallow
took his departure from this neighbourhood, al-
though the season was so fine that there were
several nests of young greenfinches about the
garden even so late as the 30th of the month,
and a wood-pigeon was sitting on its eggs in an
ash-tree close to the house.

During the latter weeks of the fishing season

(which legally ends on the 15 th of September in

all the northern rivers), the lower pools of the

Findhorn are full of an excellent small sea-trout,

locally called the finnock. My opinion is that the
vol. i. u

290 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XX.

" finnock " is the grilse, or young of the common
sea-trout, bearing exactly the same relation and
affinity to that fish as the grilse does to the salmon ;
but the natural history of the inhabitants of another
element is too uncertain and difficult a subject for
a mere casual observer to enter upon. At any
rate, the finnock is not only an excellent fish for
the table, but affords capital sport, rising freely,
and playing boldly when hooked ; and has alto-
gether strong attractions for those anglers who
somewhat love their ease. I have been much
amused by seeing an elderly, placid-looking London
gentleman, who was staying at Forres for the pur-
pose of fishing in the Findhorn. This old gentle-
man used to arrive at the river's edge at a comfort-
able noon-day hour, accompanied by his lady, and
a footman splendid in blue and red, who carried
camp-stools, books, fishing-tackle, and last, though
not least, a most voluminous luncheon. Daily did
this party make their appearance at a certain pool ;
and while the old gentleman, seated at his ease on
his camp-stool close to the water, with spectacles
and broad-brimmed hat, fished away with the well-
known perseverance and skill of a Thames angler,
his lady read her book on one side, whilst on the
other the red-legged footman either prepared the
luncheon, or held in readiness the well-stocked fly-

SEPT. RED-DEER. 291

book of his master. Very different would be the
description given of our Scotch fishing by one who
thus practised the gentle craft of angling on the
level grassy banks of the lower pools of the Find-
horn, to that of the sportsman who followed up the
pursuit of the salmon over the rugged, and often
dangerous, passes of the rocks which overhang the
deep black pools and rushing torrents of the same
river between Dulsie Bridge and the Heronry.

Most of the roebucks have; by the end of Sep-
tember, put on their winter covering of rich
mouse-coloured hair; so different from the thin
red coat they wear during the summer. Until
they have quite changed colour the roe are not
in sufficiently good condition to make them a fit
object of pursuit for the sportsman. The stag is,
however, in perfection both as to condition and
beauty, during this month.

The size of the horns of the red-deer depends to
a certain degree on the feeding which the animal
gets in the spring and end of winter. If his food
has been poor, and if he is much reduced, the horns
do not acquire their full development and size.
Fine heads of horns are now much rarer than they
were a few years ago. The reason of this probably
is, that the stag before it attains a mature age gene-
rally falls a victim to one of the numerous English

292 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XX.

rifles, whose echoes are heard in almost every High-
land corrie. Even where deer are most carefully
preserved and most numerous, the finest antlers
are generally laid low every season ; so that there
are few left whose heads are thought worthy of
being kept as a trophy : yet small as they now
comparatively are, the value of a stag seems to
depend more on his horns than on his haunches.

I am much inclined to think that the uncertainty
of getting a shot at deer in wood is even greater
than on the open mountain. The cunning of the
animals, and dislike to being driven in any one
direction, frequently render abortive the best
arranged plans for beating a cover. Sometimes
the deer are off at the first sound of a beater, at
another time they will lie quietly without moving
till all the men have passed them, and will then
sneak quietly back in the contrary direction.

I was this very year particularly struck with an
instance of deer escaping in this manner. I was
placed with a friend on passes commanding the
extremity of a long narrow patch of cover which
grew on a steep brae overhanging a beautiful river
in Eoss-shire ; and the beaters were to commence
their work at the other extremity of the wood.
We had taken our stations at a considerable height
above the river, at the most likely pass for the deer

SEPT. ESCAPE OF DEER. 293

to leave the wood by ; there we waited some time
without seeing anything excepting an occasional
blackcock or gray hen, which, having been dis-
turbed by the beaters at the other end of the cover,
came skimming rapidly past us. Presently we per-
ceived far below us four brown forms walking
slowly through the high fern and herbage which
grew amongst the birch-trees. As they emerged
from the cover we saw that they were three hinds
and a calf. "With uncertain pace they went on,
sometimes trotting in a line, and sometimes stand-
ing in a group on some hillock, from which they
looked back earnestly and inquiringly into the
wood. I was convinced by their manner that there
were other deer, probably stags, still in the cover.
As, however, the sound of the beaters came nearer,
the four deer gradually mended their pace, and in
a quiet canter followed the devious track which led
them to the summit of a steep hill to our right hand.
It was interesting to see how, having once made up
their mind as to their route, they went steadily and
rapidly on in single file, winding up the face of the
hill, sometimes lost to our sight behind a cluster
of rocks, or a birch-covered hillock, and again ap-
pearing as they kept deliberately on their way.
At the very ridge of the hill they halted again, and
after standing in a confused group with their heads

294 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XX.

all together, and their long ears at full stretch, they
at once disappeared from our sight.

The beaters came closer and closer to us, and in
spite of my prognostications no more deer appeared.
At last the men issued out of the wood, at the point
nearest us ; and one of them came up towards
where we were, to call us down. A drizzly shower
had commenced, and we had put the gun-covers
on our rifles, when suddenly from under a single
birch-tree, which was about fifty yards from us,
and about the same distance from the beater, rose
a magnificent stag, in the finest condition, and with
" a head of ten." Before we could get out our
rifles he was behind a rise in the ground which
concealed him from us until he was too far for
a ball to reach him ; and then he again appeared
galloping heavily off for the same point at which
the hinds had crossed the hill. We were both of
us dumb with surprise and vexation ; but not so
the Highlander below us, who, in the most frantic
state of eagerness and rage, hallooed and vocifer-
ated in Gaelic and English, for the stag passed,
with broadside on, within forty yards of him.
Without moving from our position we watched
the animal for some time; then, returning our rifles
to their waterproof cases, we, as if by a common
impulse, lit the pipe of consolation in the shape of

SEPT. ESCAPE OF DEER. 295

a cigar. Whilst so employed, with our heads bent
from the cold misty blast, we again heard the
man below us shouting more frantically than be-
fore, and looking up we were just in time to see
him fling his stick at another stag, who had risen
from the same spot and had cantered away in a
contrary direction, passing almost close to the
beater. Like the first stag, too, he managed to
keep his great body out of our view as long as
within shot, although he almost ran round the man,
as if perfectly understanding the difference between
two double-barrelled rifles and one walking-stick.
We afterwards ascertained that the two deer had
been lying in a small hollow of the ground at the
foot of a single birch-tree, which stood a little in
advance of the main wood. They must have been
lying with their heads close to the ground, hoping
to escape being seen ; and there they remained
until they perceived that the beater as well as
ourselves was walking directly towards them.

In taking up a position near a wood which the
men are about to beat for deer and roe, the sports-
man should go as cautiously and quietly as if he
was stalking a deer on the open hill, as nothing will
drive either stag or buck near a spot where he has
discovered or suspected that any concealed danger
is awaiting him : rather than do so, he will pass

296 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XX.

within reach of the sticks of the beaters, having,
like human beings, a far greater dread of an un-
known danger than of one which he sees and
knows the full extent of; and like many people
taking " omne ignotum pro horribili."

Though red- deer seldom come down to the
woods in this immediate neighbourhood, I have
occasionally seen one who has probably wandered
away from the Duke of Eichmond's forest.

Instances, too, sometimes occur of a stag being
found in the act of swimming narrow parts of the
Moray Firth • — a solitary deer, who probably has
been driven by dogs from his usual haunts, till,
frightened and bewildered, he has wandered at
random; and at last, coming to the shore, has swam
boldly out, attracted by the appearance of the
woods on the opposite side.

END OF VOL. I.

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all of which— with the exception of Blaeu's Maps of Liddesdale and Eskdale, and
the etchings of James IV., James V., and the Earl of Angus, by C. Lawrie— will
either be from the author's drawings or wholly executed by himself. The litho-
graphs in colour include facsimiles of four interesting representations of Scottish
Border Castles and Towns drawn between the years 1563 and 1566, Plates of Arms
of the Lords of Liddesdale, of the Clans of the District, of Lindsay of Wauchope,
also of the Seals of John Armstrong and William Elliot, etc. etc. Price 42s. and 84s.

BAILDON— Morning Clouds :

Being divers Poems by H. B. Baildon, B.A. Cantab., Author of "Rosamund," etc.
Ex. fcap. Svo, 5s.

"Their tremulous beauty, delicate fancies, and wealth of language, recall the
poetry of Shelley." — Literary World.

BAILDON— First Fruits. 5s.
BAILDON— Rosamund. 5s.
BELLAMY— Dr. Heidenhoff's Process.

By Edward Bellamy. In 1 vol. crown Svo, 6s.
" Very pathetic and charming novelette."— Whitehall Review.

LIST OF BOOKS

BELLAMY — Miss Ludington's Sister: a Romance of (Im-
mortality. By Edward Bellamy, Author of "Dr. Heidenhoff's Process." 1 vol.
crown 8vo, 6s.

BISHOP— The Voyage of the Paper Canoe.

A Geographical Journey of 2500 Miles, from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico, during
the year 1S74-75. By N. H. Bishop. With Maps and Plates, demy Svo, 10s. 6d.

" There are some capital stories in this book, with a racy American flavour;
and Mr. Bishop especially shines in his delineation of the liberated and enfran-
chised negro." — Pall Mall Gazette.

BLACKIE— Lyrical Poems.

Crown Svo, cloth, 7s. 6d.

BLACKIE— The Language and Literature of the Scottish

Highlands. In 1 vol. crown Svo, 6s.

" The way to a mother's heart is through her childreu ; the way to a people's
heart is through its language." — Jean Paul Richter.

" Ein Buch, das ich auch deutschen Lesern, und zwar in einem betrachtlich
weiteni Umfange, nicht angelegentlich genug empfehlen kann." — Dr. B. Pauli.

BLACKIE— Pour Phases of Morals :

Socrates, Aristotle, Christianity, and Utilitarianism. Lectures delivered before
the Royal Institution, London. Ex. fcap. Svo, Second Edition, 5s.

BLACKIE— Songs of Religion and Life.-

Fcap. Svo, 6s.

BLACKIE— On Self-Culture :

Intellectual, Physical, and Moral. A Vade-Mecum for Young Men and Students.
Fourteenth Edition. Fcap. Svo, 2s. 6d.

" Every parent should put it into the hands of his son." — Scotsman.'*' "-.

" Students in all countries would do well to take as their vade-mecum a little
book ou self-culture by the eminent Professor of Greek in the University of Edin-
burgh."— Medical Press and Circular.

" An invaluable manual to be put into the hands of students and young men."
—Era.

" Written in that lucid and nervous prose of which he is a master." — Spectator.

" An adequate guide to a generous, eager, and sensible life." — Academy.

"The volume is a little thing, but it is a multiim in parvo ... a little locket
gemmed within and without with real stones fitly set."— Couraiit.

BLACKIE— On Greek Pronunciation.

Demy Svo, 3s. 6d.

BLACKIE— On Beauty.

Crown Svo, cloth, Ss. 6d.

"A useful and closely written book, fervid without being verbose, scientific
without being dry ; and as amusing as it is valuable." — Athenasum.

BLACKIE— Musa Burschicosa.

A Book cf Songs for Students and University Men. Fcap. Svo, 2s. 6d.

BLACKIE— War Songs of the Germans.

Fcap. Svo, price 2s. 6d. cloth ; 2s. paper.

BLACKIE— Political Tracts.

No 1. Government. No. 2. Education. Price Is. each.

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS.

BLACKIE— Gaelic Societies.

Highland Depopulation and Land Law Reform. Demy 8vo, 6d.

BLACKIE— Homer and the Iliad.

In three Parts. 4 vols, demy Svo, price 42s.

BOWEN—" Verily, Verily," The Amens of Christ.

By the Rev. George Bowen of Bombay. Small 4to, cloth, 5s.

" For private and devotional reading this book will be found very helpful and
stimulative." — Literary World.

BOWEN— Daily Meditations by Rev. G. Bowen of Bombay.

With Introductory Notice by Rev. W. Hanna, D.D., Author of "The Last Day of
our Lord's Passion." New Edition, small 4to, cloth, 5s.

" Among such books we shall scarcely find another which exhibits the same
freshness and vividness of idea, the same fervour of faith, the same intensity or
devotion. ... I count it a privilege to introduce in this country a book so fitted
to attract and to benefit." — Extract from Preface.

" These meditations are the production of a missionary whose mental history is
very remarkable. . . . His conversion to a religious life is undoubtedly one of the
most remarkable on record. They are all distinguished by a tone of true piety,
and are wholly free from a sectarian or controversial bias." — Morning Post.

BROWN"— Horae Subsecivse. First Series.

By John Brown, M.D. In 1 vol. crown Svo. Fourth Edition, with a Portrait by
Jas. Faed, 7s. 6d. Containing—

Edward Forbes.

Dr. Adams, of Banchory.

Henry Vaughan.

Excursus Ethicus.

Professor Syme.

Dr. John Scott.

Sir Robert Christison.
Lectures on Health.

Locke and Sydenham.

Dr. Andrew Combe.

Dr. Henry Marshall and Military

Hygiene.
Art and Science : A Contrasted

Parallel.
Our Gideon Grays.
Dr. Andrew Brown and Sydenham.
Free Competition in Medicine.

"The whole volume is full of wit and wisdom. . . . It will be a medical classic
like the ' Religio Medici.' "—Edinburgh Medical Journal.

BROWN— Horae Subsecivae. Second Series.

By John Brown, M.D. In 1 vol. crown Svo. Eleventh Edition, 7s. 6d. Con-
taining—

Letter to John Cairns, D.D.
Dr. Chalmers.
Dr. George "Wilson.
Her Last Half-Crown.
Queen Mary's Child-Garden.

Our Dogs.

Notes on Art.

"Oh, I'm Wat, Wat!"

Education Through the Senses.

ArXINOIA — Nearness of the N0T2 - Presence of Mind-'ETSTOXIA :

Happy Guessing.
The Black Dwarf s Bones. I " With Brains, Sir ! "

Rab and his Friends. Arthur H. Hallam.

" He speaks to us out of the riches of a storied past with all the charm of one

who knew and loved it well ; and his manner is so sympathetic, and his touch so

gentle and exquisite, that we always feel he knows and loves the present with the

truest and largest of hearts."— Literary World.

LIST OF BOOKS

BROW1M"— Horae Subsecivee. Third Series.

By John Brown, M.D. In 1 vol. crown Svo. Fourth Edition, witli a Portrait by
Geo. Beid, B.S.A., 7s. 6d. Containing—

John Leech.

A Jacobite Family.

Mystifications.

Miss Stirling Graham of Duntrune.

Thackeray's Death.

Marjorie Fleming.

Minchmoor.

" In Clear Dream and Solemn

Vision."
Jeems the Doorkeeper.

Sir E. Landseer's Picture, "There's Life

in the Old Dog Yet," etc.
The Enterkin.
The Duke of Athole.
Struan.

Dick Mihi, or Cur, why ?
E. V. K. to his Friend in Town.
Sir Henry Baeburn.
Something about a Well, With more of

our Dogs.

" Dr. John Brown's humour, pathos, and geniality are acknowledged qualities.
. . . We end with a hearty recommendation of the book to readers of almost every
variety of taste, for they will find here scores of stories which will make them
laugh or shudder, or feel a great disposition to cry." — Saturday Review.

" In this new volume of the 'Horse Subsecivfe' Dr. John Brown has given us
some more of his pleasant and discursive essays on men and beasts." — Pall Mall
Gazette.

" One vei-y obvious characteristic of these papers is their appearance of ease and
spontaneity. They impress us as the work of one full of his subject and delighted
with it." — Academy.

"With two exceptions the essays and sketches are all racy of the northern
soil." — St. James's Gazette.

" The author of ' Bab and his Friends ' has published a volume of stray papers
in which many delightful glimpses will be found of old Edinburgh society." —
Dundee Advertiser.

" To see another work of Dr. John Brown is pleasant unto the eyes as to see
the face of an old friend." — Scotsman.

"There is in almost every one of Dr. Brown's inimitable papers such an ' eeri-
ness ' as befitteth best only the hours of darkness." — Spectator.

" He has not a little of Mr. Buskin's love of nature, but his humour and his
wide human affections preserve him from the evils of over intensity." — Noncon-
formist.

" The author of ' Bab and his Friends' has a place apart among contemporary
essayists. His manner and his matter are alike peculiar to himself." — Athenosum.

Separate Papers, extracted from " Horee Subsecivee."
Rab and his Friends.

With India-proof portrait of the Author after Faed, and seven India-proof
Illustrations after Sir G. Harvey, Sir J. Noel Paton, Mrs. Blackburn, and
G. Beid, B.S.A. Demy 4to, cloth, 9s.
"Written with a quiet, unaffected power, worthy of the pathetic and touching
scene it describes." — Saturday Review.
"A quaint and touching story." — Athenosum.

"A veritable gem. It is true, simple, pathetic, and touched with an antique
grace." — Fraser's Magazine.

Marjorie Fleming: A Sketch. Being a Paper entitled "Pet

Marjorie ; a Story of a Child's Life fifty years ago."
trations. Small 4to, 7s. 6d.

New Edition, with Illus-

Rab and his Friends.

Cheap Illustrated Edition. Square 12mo, ornamental wrapper, Is.

Rab and his Friends.

Sixty-fourth Thousand. Price 6d.

Our Dogs.

Twentieth Thousand. Price 6d.

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS.

"With Brains, Sir!"

Serenth Thousand. Price 6d.

Minchmoor.

Tenth Thousand. Price 6d.
The Enterkin.

Seventh Thousand. Price 6d.

Jeems the Doorkeeper.

Twelfth Thousand. Price 6d.

Marjorie Fleming: A Sketch.

Sixteenth Thousand. Price 6d.

Plain Words on Health.

Twenty-seventh Thousand. Price 6d.

Something about a Well : With more of our Dogs. Price 6d.
Arthur H. Hallam.

Price 2s. sewed; and 2s. 6d. cloth, gilt edges.

Supplementary Chapter to the Life of the Rev. John

Brown, D.D. Second Edition. Price 2s.

BEOWN-The Capercaillie in Scotland.

By J. A. Haevie Brown. Etchings on Copper, and Map illustrating the extension
of its range since its Restoration at Taymouth in 1837 and 1838. Demy Svo, 8s. 6d.

" To no one will it prove uninteresting, and to ornithologists and sportsmen it
is specially inviting." — Dundee Advertiser.

" A carefully prepared and exhaustive monograph of the Capercaillie in Scot-
land, which ought to be perused by every proprietor of an estate, forester, and
naturalist in the country." — Journal of Forestry.

BULLOCH — George Jamesone. The Scottish Vandyke.

1587 to 1644. By John Bulloch. With Two Illustrations by George Reid, R.S.A.

\ III tJbC Ptcss

BURNETT— " The Red Book of Menteith" Reviewed.

By George Burnett, Advocate, Lyon King of Arms. In 1 vol. small 4to, 5s.

BURROUGHS— Winter Sunshine.

By John Burroughs. 32mo, Is., and cloth 2s.

" The minuteness of his observation, the keenness of his perception, give him
a real originality, and his sketches have a delightful oddity, vivacity, and fresh-
ness."— The Nation (New York).

" It is full of amusing anecdotes and personal experiences." — Dundee Advertiser.

"Mr. Burroughs is one of the most delightful of American essayists, steeped in
culture to the finger ends, and ' Winter Sunshine ' is one of his most delightful and
agreeable volumes." — Pall Mall Gazette.

" It is not often granted to us to see ourselves as other see us quite so pleasantly as
we do in Mr. Burroughs' nice little account of his trip to England." — Saturday Sevieiu.

BURROUGHS— Locusts and Wild Honey.

By John Burroughs. 32mo, Is. ; and in Cloth, 2s.
" From beginning to end it is charming reading." — Westminster Sevieiv.

BURROUGHS -Wake - Robin.

32mo, Is. ; and in Cloth, 2s.

" These pages are fragrant with the fresh strong air of country life."— Freeman.

" His scenes are portrayed with the minuteness and accuracy of a photograph."
— Westmoreland Gazette.

8 LIST OF BOOKS

BURROUGHS-Pepaeton and other Sketches.

32mo, Is. ; and in Cloth, 2s.

" A book for holiday reading, or for that genial evening hour when close-drawn
curtains and a glowing fire draw a listening circle to think of woods and wilds,
with all their furred and feathered inhabitants." — Literary World.

BURROUGHS— Birds and Poets, with other Papers.

32mo, Is. ; and in Cloth, 2s.

" There are few readers of American magazine literature who have not lingered
with pleasure over pages in which Mr. Burroughs has discoursed of the charms
of wood and field." — Glasgow News.

CABLE-Dr. Sevier.

By Geo. W. Cable, Author of "Old Creole Days," etc. In 2 vols, crown 8vo,
price 12s.

CABLE— Old Creole Days.

By Geo. W. Cable. 32mo, Is. ; and in Cloth, 2s.

"With a good gift for language, and a very rare one for dialect, he has made a
systematic study of Creole French, of which he may be regarded as the first
thorough exponent." — Century.

"Another writer who has gained a great and well-deserved reputation in the
United States is Mr. George W. Cable, who is doing for the State of Louisiana what
Nathaniel Hawthorne did for New England — reproducing for us the people and
customs of an age which, though not remote, has passed away." — Quarterly Review.

" The combination of grotesque humour and of genuine pathos is most charm-
ing, and quite unique and inimitable." — Glasgow Citizen.

" This collection, which includes seven stories, deserves to be read if only because
it gives a picture of a phase of Southern life whicli has now passed away." — Satur-
day Review.

" We cannot recall any contemporary American writer of fiction who possesses
some of the best gifts of the novelist in a higher degree." — St. James's Gazette.

" The book is one which when we have once begun we are constrained to finish."
— The Freeman.

CAIRNS -Memoir of John Brown, D.D.

By John Cairns, D.D., Berwick-on-Tweed. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d.

CAMPBELL— My Indian Journal.

Containing Descriptions of the principal Field Sports of India, with Notes on the
Natural History and Habits of the Wild Animals of the Country. By Colonel
Walter Campbell, Author of "The Old Forest Ranger." Small demy Svo, with
Illustrations by Wolf, lGs.

CHALMERS— Life and Works of Rev. Thomas Chalmers,

D.D., LL.D.

Memoirs of the Eev. Thomas Chalmers. By Rev. W. Hanna, D.D., LL.D. New

Edition. 2 vols, crown 8vo, cloth, 12s.
Daily Scripture Readings. Cheap Edition. 2 vols, crown Svo, 10s.
Astronomical Discourses, Is.
Commercial Discourses, Is.
Select Works, in 12 vols, crown Svo, cloth, per vol. 6s.

Lectures on the Romans. 2 vols.

Sermons. 2 vols.

Natural Theology, Lectures on Butler's Analogy, etc. 1 vol.

Christian Evidences, Lectures on Paley's Evidences, etc. 1 vol.

Institutes of Theology. 2 vols.

Political Economy, with Cognate Essays. 1 vol.

Polity of a Nation. 1 vol.

Church and College Establishments. 1 vol.

Moral Philosophy, Introductory Essays, Index, etc. 1 vol.

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS.

CHIENE— Lectures on Surgical Anatomy.

By John Chiene, M.D., Prof, of Surgery in the University of Edinburgh. In

1 vol. demy Svo. With numerous illustrations drawn on Stone by Berjeau. 12s. 6d.
" Dr. Chiene has succeeded in going over the most important part of the ground,

and in a pleasant readable manner. . . . They (the plates) are well executed, and
considerably enhance the value of the book."— Lancet.

" The book will be a great help to both teachers and taught, and students can
depend upon the teaching as being sound."— Medical Times and Gazette.

CHIENE— Lectures on the Elements or First Principles of

Surgery. By John Chiene, M.D., Prof, of Surgery in the University of Edinburgh.
Demy Svo, 2s. 6d.

CHRISTIE— Traditional Ballad Airs.

Arranged and Harmonised for the Pianoforte and Harmonium. By W. Christie,
M.A., and the late William Christie, Monquhitter. Demy 4to, Vols. I. and II.
42s. each.

"As a contribution to our national stories it takes rank perhaps even above
Dean Ramsay's popular 'Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character.'" — Inver-
ness Courier.

CONSTABLE— Archibald Constable and his Literary Cor-

respondents : a Memorial. By his Son, Thomas Constable. 3 vols, demy Svo,
36s., with Portrait.

" He (Mr. Constable) was a genius in the publishing world. . . . The creator
of the Scottish publishing trade."— Times.
" These three volumes are of a singular and lasting interest." — Nonconformist.

CRAWFORD — The Earldom of Mar, in Sunshine and in

Shade, during Five Hundred Years. With incidental Notices of the leading Cases
of Scottish Dignities of King Charles I. till now. By Alexander, Earl of Craw-
ford and Balcarres, Lord Lindsay, etc. etc. 2 vols, demy Svo, 32s.

"It is one of the most learned expositions of peerage history and peerage law,
which it has been our fortune to find." — Morning Post.

The Crime of Henry Vane : a Study with a Moral.

By J. S., of Dale, Author of " Guerndale." In 1 vol. crown Svo, Os.

" A man's book for one thing, and it is a manly book for another. It is a sin-
gular story, more direct and bolder than ' Guerndale.' " — Saturday Review.

CROOM— A Clinical and Experimental Study of the Bladder

during Parturition. By J. H. Croom, M.B., F.R.C.P.E. Small 4to, with Illus-
trations, 6s.

CUMMING— Wild Men and Wild Beasts.

Adventures in Camp and Jungle. By Lieut. -Colonel Gordon Cumming. With
Illustrations by Lieut.-Col. Baigrie and others. Second Edition. Small 4to,
price 24s.
Also, a cheaper edition, with Lithographic Illustrations. Svo, 12s.

CURTIS -Prue and I.

By George William Curtis. In 1 vol., Is. paper ; or 2s. cloth extra.
"This is a dainty piece of work and well deserved reprinting."— Athenwum.

DASENT- Burnt NjaL

From the Icelandic of the Njal's Saga. By Sir George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L.

2 vols, demy Svo, with Maps and Plans, 2Ss.

10 LIST OF BOOKS

DASENT- Gisli the Outlaw.

From the Icelandic. By Sir George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L. Small 4to, with
Illustrations, 7s. 6d.

DASENT— Tales from the Norse.

By Sir Georre Webbe Dasent, D.C.L. Third Edition, with Introduction and
Appendix. In 1 vol. demy Svo. [In the Press.

A Daughter of the Philistines : A Novel.

1 vol. small crown Svo, 6s.

"The story is very powerfully told, possesses a piquantly satirical flavour, and
possesses the very real attraction of freshness." — Scotsman.
"It is cleverly and brightly written." — Academy.

DAY — The Uses and Manufacture of Iron and Steel, from

Prehistoric Ages to the Present Time. By St. John V. Day, C.E., F.R.S.E.,
F.S.A. (Scot.), Member of the Iron and Steel Institute, Member of the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers, Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Member
of Council of the Institute of Patent Agents, etc. To be completed in 3 vols,
demy Svo. (Vol. I. in October.) [In the Press.

DITTMAR— A Manual of Chemical Analysis.
By Professor William Dittmar. Ex. fcap. 8vo, 5s.

DITTMAR— Tables forming an Appendix to Ditto.

Demy Svo, 3s. 6d.

DUN— Veterinary Medicines ; their Actions and Uses.

By Finlay Dun. Sixth Edition, revised and enlarged. Demy Svo, 15s.

DUNBAR— Social Life in Former Days ;

Chiefly in the Province of Moray. Illustrated by Letters and Family Papers. By
E. Dunbar Dunbar, late Captain 21st Fusiliers. 2 vols, demy Svo, 19s. tid.

ERSKINE— Letters of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen.

Edited by William Hanna, D.D., Author of the "Memoirs of Dr. Chalmers," etc.
Fourth Edition. In 1 vol. crown Svo, 7s. 6d.

" Here is one who speaks out of the fulness of a large living human heart ; whose
words will awaken an echo in the hearts of many burdened with the cares of time,
perplexed with the movements of the spirit of our time, who will speak to their
deepest needs, and lead them to a haven of rest." — Daily Review.

"It does one good to come in contact with so saintly a man, and Dr. Hanna has
certainly conferred a benefit on the Church at large by editing this volume." —
Edinburgh Courant.

"'How high must that peak have been which caught the light so early,' were
the words with which a writer in the Contemporary Review, in sketching the life of
Thomas Erskine, shortly after his death, characterised his position, his spirit, and
his influence." — Nonconformist.

ERSKINE— The Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel.

New Edition, revised. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d.

ERSKINE— The Brazen Serpent :

Or, Life coming through Death. Third Edition. Crown Svo, 5s.

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS. 11

ERSKINE— The Internal Evidence of Revealed Religion.

Crown Svo, 5s.

"Before Mr. Erskine went abroad in 1822, he published his first work on 'The
Internal Evidence of Revealed Religion,' in which he pursued in a more extended
manner something of the same line of thought as that already spoken of. His
great aim was to show the dlvine origin of christianity both from the
fitting Illustration which it furnished of the Character of God and its
Bearing on the Character of Man, to demonstrate that its facts not only present
an impressive exhibition of all the moral qualities which can be conceived to reside
in the Divine mind, but also contain all those objects which have a natural
tendency to excite and suggest in the human mind that combination of moral
feelings which has been termed moral perfection." — Edinburgh Review.

ERSKINE— The Spiritual Order,

And other Papers selected from the MSS. of the late Thomas Erskine of Linlathen.
Second Edition. Crown Svo, 5s.

" It will for a few have a value which others will not the least understand. But
all must recognise in it the utterance of a spirit profoundly penetrated with the
sense of brotherhood, and with the claims of common humanity." — Spectator.

" Very deserving of study."— Times.
Vide Bible Readings and Fragments of Truth.

ERSKINE— The Doctrine of Election,

And its Connection with the General Tenor of Christianity, illustrated especially
from the Epistle to the Romans. Second Edition. Crown Svo, 6s.

FAITHFULL- Three Visits to America.

By Emily Faithfull. Demy Svo, 9s.

FERGUSON — Guide to the Great North of Scotland Rail-
way. By W. Ferguson of Kinmundy. In 1 vol. crown Svo ; in paper cover, Is.;
cloth cover, Is. 6d.

"An extremely readable and amusing, as well as instructive, little volume." —
Aberdeen Free Press.

FERGUS ON -Twelve Sketches of Scenery and Antiquities

on the Line of the Great North of Scotland Railway. By George Reid, R.S.A.
With Illustrative Letterpress by W. Ferguson of Kinmundy. 4to, 15s.

FERGUSSON- Letters and Journals of Mrs. Calderwood

of Polton, from England, Holland, and the Low Countries, in 1756. Edited by
Alex. Fergusson, Lieutenant-Colonel, Author of " Henry Erskine and his Kins-
folk." Demy Svo.

FLETCHER— Autobiography of Mrs. Fletcher

(of Edinburgh), with Letters and other Family Memorials. Edited by her Daugh-
ter. Third Edition. Crown Svo, Vs. 6d.

" This is a delightful book. It contains an illustrative record of a singularly
noble, true, pure, prolonged, and happy life. The story is recounted with a can-
dour, vivacity, and grace which are very charming." — Daily Review.

FLEURY— L'Histoire de France.

Par M. Lame Fleury. New Edition, corrected to 1SS3. ISino, cloth, 2s. 6d.

FORBES— The Deepening of the Spiritual Life.

By A. P. Forbes, D.C.L., Bishop of Brechin. Fifth Edition. Calf, red edges, 3s. Cd.

12 LIST OF BOOKS

FORBES— Kalendars of Scottish Saints,

With Personal Notices of those of Alba, etc. By Alexander Penrose Forbes,
D.C.L., Bishop of Brechin. 1 vol. 4to, price £3 : 3s. A few copies for sale on
large paper, £5 : 15 : 6.

"A truly valuable contribution to the archaeology of Scotland." — Guardian.

" We must not forget to thank the author for the great amount of information he
has put together, and for the labour he has bestowed on a work which can never
be remunerative." — Saturday Review.

"His laborious and very interesting work on the early Saints of Alba, Laudonia
and Strathclyde."— Quarterly Review.

FORBES — Missale Drummondiense. The Ancient Irish

Missal in the possession of the Baroness Willoughby d'Eresby. Edited by the
Bev. G. H. Forbes. Half-morocco, demy Svo, 12s.

Fragments of Truth :

Being the Exposition of several Passages of Scripture. Third Edition. Extra
fcap. Svo, 5s.

FRASER— Alcohol : its Function and Place.

By Thomas R. Fraser, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Materia Medica in the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh. With Diagrams and Tables. Svo, Is.

GAIRDIYER and SPEDDHSTG— Studies in English History.

By James Gairdner and James Spedding. In 1 vol. demy Svo, 12s.

1. The Lollards.

2. Sir John Falstaff. i

• 3. Katherine of Arragon's First and Second Marriages.

4. Case of Sir Thomas Overbury.

5. Divine Right of Kings.

6. Sunday, Ancient and Modern.

" The authors' names alone are a sufficient guarantee that the Essays in this
beautifully printed volume were worth reprinting." — St. James's Gazette.

"It will enlighten the readers on some points in respect to which they are at
present very much in the dark." — Scotsman.

GAIRDNEE-On Medicine and Medical Edtication.

By W. T. Gairdner, Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the University of
Glasgow. Three Lectures, with Notes and an Appendix. 8vo, 3s. 6d.

GAIRDNER — Clinical and Pathological Notes on Peri-
carditis. By W. T. Gairdner, Professor of the Practice of Medicine in the Univer-
sity of Glasgow. Svo, sewed, Is.

Gifts for Men.

By X. H. Crown Svo, 6s.

" There is hardly a living theologian who might not be proud to claim many of
her thoughts as his own." — Glasgow Herald.

GILFILLAET— Sketches Literary and Theological :

Being selections from the unpublished MSS. of the Rev. George Gilfillan.
Edited by Frank Henderson, Esq., M.P. 7s. 6d.

"The papers chosen for publication are chiefly critical, and they form a most
readable, instructive, and interesting volume." — Dundee Advertiser.

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS. 1

o

GORDON"— The Roof of the World :

Being the Narrative of a Journey over the High Plateau of Tibet to the Russian
Frontier, and the Oxus Sources on Pamir. By Lieut. -Col. T. E. Gordon, C.S.I.
With numerous Illustrations. Royal Svo, 31s. 6d.

GORDON"— The Home Life of Sir David Brewster.

By his Daughter, Mrs. Gordon. Second Edition. Crown Svo, 6s.

"With his own countrymen it is sure of a welcome, and to the savants of Europe,
and of the New World, it will have a real and special interest of its own."— Pall
Mall Gazette.
Also a cheaper Edition, crown Svo, 2s. 6d.

By the same Author.
GORDON— "Workers.

Fourth Thousand. Fcap. Svo, limp cloth, Is.

GORDON— Work ;

Or, Plenty to do and How to do it. Thirty-sixth Thousand. Fcap. Svo, cloth, 2s. Cd.

Warfare Work.
Everyday Work.
Social Work.
Home Work.
Single Women's Work.
Waiting Work.
Preparatory Work.
Desultory Work.
Praising Work.
Special Work.

Praying Work.
Homely Hints about Work.
Reward of Work.
Future Work.
Combined Work.
Little Children's Work.
Young Ladies' Work.
Work of Teachers and

Taught.
Household Work.

Work of Employers and

Employed.
Country Work.
Sabbath Work.
Thought Work.
Proving Work.
Rest.

"Mrs. Gordon is precisely one of the ladies for the time, — not a drowsy dreamer,
but fully awake, strong in heart, ardent in zeal, and intent on the vigorous use of
right means to promote right ends." — British Banner.

"A better gift book for young domestic servants we do not know."— Literary
Gazette.

GORDON— Little Millie and her Four Places.

Cheap Edition. Fifty-eighth Thousand. Limp cloth, Is.

" The narrative is simple and attractive ; the plan of the work is well con-
ceived ; the style is fluent and lively ; and the interest of the tale is well sustained
to the close."— Spectator.

GORDON— Sunbeams in the Cottage;

Or, What Women may do. A Narrative chiefly addressed to the Working Classes.
Cheap Edition. Forty-fifth Thousand. Limp cloth, Is.

" The fruit alike of strong sense and philanthropic genius. . . . There is in
every chapter much to instruct the mind as well as to motild the heart and to
mend the manners. The volume lias all the charms of romance, while every page
is stamped with utility." — Christian Witness.

GORDON— Prevention ;

Or, An Appeal to Economy and Common Sense. Svo, 6d.

GORDON— The Word and the World.

Twelfth Edition. Price 2d.

GORDON— Leaves of Healing for the Sick and Sorrowful.

Cheap Edition, limp cloth, 2s.

14 LIST OF BOOKS

GORDON"— The Motherless Boy;

With an Illustration by Sir J. Noel Paton, R.S.A. Cheap Edition, limp cloth, Is.
"Alike in manner and matter calculated to attract youthful attention, and to
attract it by the best of all means — sympathy." — Scotsman.

GORDON— Our Daughters :

An Account of the Young Women's Christian Association and Institute Union.
Price 2d.

GORDON— Hay Macdowall Grant of Arndilly ; his Life,

Labours, and Teaching. New and Cheaper Edition. 1 vol. crown Svo, limp
cloth, 2s. 6d.

HANK" A— The Life of our Lord.

By the Rev. William Hanna, D.D., LL.D. 6 vols., handsomely bound in cloth
extra, gilt edges, 30s.

Separate vols., cloth extra, gilt edges, 5s. each.

1. The Earlier Years of our Lord. Fifth Edition.

2. The Ministry in Galilee. Fourth Edition.

3. The Close of the Ministry. Sixth Thousand.

4. The Passion Week. Sixth Thousand.

5. The Last Day of our Lord's Passion. Twenty-third Edition.

6. The Forty Days after the Resurrection. Eighth Edition.

"If Dr. Hanna excels in one thing more than another, it is in the simplicity of
his style. It is this quality which gives beauty and force to the work before us.
One cannot proceed far into the pages of this Life of our Lord without being struck
with the unbroken continuity of movement illustrative of the life and work of
Christ." — Christian Union.

HANNA— The Resurrection of the Dead.

By William Hanna, D.D., LL.D. Second Edition. One vol. fcap. Svo, 5s.

HARRIS — Mingo and other Sketches in Black and White.

By Joel Chandlier Harris (Uncle Remits). 32mo, Is. ; and in cloth, 2s.

HASTIE— Protestant Missions to the Heathen. A General

Survey of their Present State throughout the World. By Prof. Th. Christlieb.
Translated from the German by Rev. W. Hastie, Calcutta. 1 vol. demy Svo, Is.

HASTIE-Elements of Philosophy.

Part First. Is.

HASTIE-The Perpetuity of the Faith as our Ground of

Hope. Is.

HENDERSON-Notes of Caithness Family History.

By the late John Henderson, W.S. 4to, 31s. 6d.

HODGSON- Errors in the Use of English.

Illustrated from the Writings of English Authors, from the Fourteenth Century to
Our Own Time. By the late W. B. Hodgson, LL. D., Professor of Political Economy
in the University of Edinburgh. Fourth Edition. 1 vol. crown 8vo, 3s. 6d.

" Those who most need such a book as Dr. Hodgson's will probably be the last
to look into it. It will certainly amuse its readers, and will probably teach them
a good deal which they did not know, or at least never thought about, before." —
The Saturday Review.

" Perhaps at no period in the history of our language was such a work as this
needed so much as it is at present. ... It would save the feelings of many a lover
of pure English were all forced, as a preliminary exercise, simply to read Professor
Hodgson's collections of ' Errors in English.' " — N.B. Daily Mail.

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS. 15

IS

Beyond all doubt, Professor Hodgson has attained his object— viz. to set forth
the merits of correctness in English composition by furnishing examples of the de-
ments of incorrectness— to bring home the abstract rule that a sentence must be
lucid in order and logical in sequence."— The Athenaeum.

" This little volume will surely do excellent service, and we strongly recommend
it for the study of all."— Manchester Examiner.

"This posthumous work of Dr. Hodgson's deserves a hearty welcome, for it
sure to do good service for the object it has in view."— The Academy.

"His conversation, as every one who had the pleasure of his acquaintance
knows, sparkled with anecdote and epigram, and not a little of the lustre and
charm of his talk shines out of those pages."— The Scotsman.

"The book is neither large nor expensive, but it contains a great amount of
careful and scholarly criticism."— Aberdeen Free Press.

"No one who aims at a pure style of English composition should be without
this book." — The Educational News.

"As a help to composition this book will be found very useful, and to all it will
prove a curious and interesting book for perusal."— Yorkshire Post.

HODGSON-Life and Letters of W. B. Hodgson, LL.D., late

Professor of Political Economy in the University of Edinburgh. Edited by Pro-
fessor J. M. D. Meiklejohn, M.A. 1 vol. crown Svo, 7s. 6d.

HOLE— Character Portraits of the Professors of the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh. A series of Etchings by Dawson, after Drawings by William
Hole, A.R.S.A. With brief Biographical Sketches. Handmade paper, 4to,
£2 : 2s. to Subscribers. A few copies on Large Paper. India Proofs, £5 : 5s. to
Subscribers.

HOLMES-The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table.

By Oliver Wendell Holmes. New and Revised Edition, containing fresh Preface
and Bibliographical Notes by the Author. Printed at the Riverside Press. Crown
Svo, 10s. 6d.

HOLMES-The Professor at the Breakfast-Table.

New Edition. Crown Svo, 10s. 6d.

HOLMES-The Poet at the Breakfast-Table.

By Oliver Wendell Holmes, M.D. New Edition, carefully Revised, with New
Preface. Printed at the Riverside Press from New Electrotype Plates. With a
Steel Portrait of the Author. Crown Svo, 10s. 6d.

"As he is everybody's favourite, there is no occasion for critics to meddle with
him, either to censure or to praise. He can afford to laugh at the whole reviewing
fraternity. His wit is all his own, so sly and tingling, but without a drop of ill-
nature in it, and never leaving a sting behind. His humour is so grotesque and
queer that it reminds one of the frolics of Puck ; and deep pathos mingles with it
so naturally that when the reader's eyes are brimming with tears he knows not
whether they have their source in sorrow or in laughter." — North American Review.

HOLMES— Pocket Edition of the Breakfast-Table Series in

the Collection of Choice American Authors. 6 vols. 32mo, Is. each ; or in cloth,
gilt top, 2s. a vol. (in cloth box, 15s.)

HOME— Traces in Scotland of Ancient Water Lines, Marine,

Lacustrine, and Fluviatile. By David Milne-Home, LL.D., F.R.S.E. 1 vol.
demy Svo, 3s. 6d.

" To the student of geology and archaeology the volume will present a compen-
dium of precise and authentic observations, the importance of which cannot well
be overrated, while for the general reader it contains a wonderfully interesting
story of ceaseless change and vicissitude." — Glasgow Herald.

16 LIST OF BOOKS

HOPE— A Sketch of the Life of George Hope of Fenton

Barns. Compiled by his Daughter. 6s.

HOWARD— One Summer.

By Blanche Willis Howard. 32mo, paper, Is. ; cloth, Is. 6d. and 2s.

HOWELLS- A Modern Instance : A Novel.

Published with the sanction of the Author.
By W. D. Howells. Copyright Edition, in 2 vols, crown Svo, 12s.

" What interests us throughout is the vivid picture of American social life as it
really is." — Sx>ectator.

"In 'A Modern Instance' Mr. Howells is as pitiless as life itself. As a piece
of artistic work it cannot easily be surpassed." — St. James's Gazette.

" Among the books which treat of the lives of Americans at home the most re-
markable is the ' Modern Instance.' It is more powerful than any of Mr. Howells's
previous works." — Blackwood's Magazine.

" No one can call this book either pious or didactic fiction, but we have seldom
met with a more religion-teaching book." — The Guardian (London).

" ' A Modern Instance ' is before all things a study of character." — Athenceum.

HOWELLS— Dr. Breen's Practice : A Novel.

Copyright Edition, in 1 vol. crown Svo, 2s. 6d., or in cloth, 3s. 6d.

" In Dr. Breen's Practice we have an entertaining representation of modern
American life, lightly and delicately touched off in Mr. Howells's peculiar style."—
Literary World.

HOWELLS— A Woman's Reason : A Novel.

Copyright Edition, in crown Svo, 2 vols., 12s.

"This story will take rank with the best ones of the season." — Literary World.

"Mr. Howells has worked up the old theme very pleasantly on this occasion,
and flavoured it agreeably with a due share of the humour in which he decidedly
has the advantage of Mr. Henry James." — Athenwum.

"The reader is carried irresistibly to the end." — Nottingham Daily Guardian.

"In future Mr. Howells should be known as the author of A Woman's Reason,
for here alone he seems to have done justice to his singular powers. It is a real
novel. We can only repeat how very excellent the book is, and how thoroughly
worth reading — once, twice, and even thrice." — Academy.

By the same Author and published with his sanction.
Pocket Editions in One Shilling Volumes. Calico, Is. 6d.; cloth gilt, 2s.
HOWELLS— A Foregone Conclusion.

" It is the greatest triumph of the artist that out of material so little idealised
he should have produced a story of such enduring and pathetic .interest." — The
Times.

HOWELLS— Their Wedding Journey.

" With just enough of story and dialogue to give to it the interest of a novel.
It is also one of the most charming books of travel that we have ever seen." —
Christian Register (Boston).

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS. 17

HOWELLS-A Chance Acquaintance.

" The bright, courageous, light-hearted realism of the whole, the gay charm of
the principal characters, the refined humour of some of the incidents, the senti-
ment and style in which the pretty sparkling story is, as it were, embedded, were
such as showed a new artistic force at work, and announced a great and original
talent." — The Times.

HO WELLS— The Lady of the Aroostook.

2 Vols. 2s.

" There are few more perfect stories than The Lady of the Aroostook."— The
Times.

HO WELLS - A Fearful Responsibility and Tonelli's

Marriage.

" The great body of the cultivated public has an instinctive delight in original
genius, whether it be refined or sensational. Mr. Howells's is eminently refined.
His humour, however vivid in form, is subtle and elusive in its essence. He de-
pends, perhaps, somewhat too much on the feeling of humour in his readers to
appreciate his own." — E. P. Whipple. .

HOWELLS-The Undiscovered Country.

2 Vols. 2s.

"The story is, like all Mr. Howells's creations, skilfully constructed and
wrought out with careful elaboration of detail." — Freeman.

HOWELLS— A Counterfeit Presentment, a Comedy, and a

Parlour Car, a Farce.

" In this comedy Mr. Howells gives new proof of his rare insight into char-
acter, and ability to portray it by effective and discriminating touches, of his fine
sense of dramatic scenes and incidents, and of his exquisite literary skill."

HOWELLS— Out of the Question, a Comedy, and At the

Sign of the Savage.

" We may safely prophesy that among the cultivated class of readers Mr.
Howells's books will be in steady demand. There are already six or seven of them
issued in a cheap form by the publisher of A Modem Instance. From our own
knowledge we can recommend A Chance Acquaintance and The Undiscovered
Country as books of careful workmanship and accurate observation, written
from the American point of view, and without the least apparent influence, either
in style or point of view, of English writers." — Saturday Review.

HOWELLS-Novels.

These 10 vols., neatly bound in cloth gilt, in box, 21s.

HOWELLS-Venetian Life. 2 Vols. 2s.

"His faculty of shrewd, sympathetic observation possessed itself easily of
Italian sights and characters, but through all the track of Venetian lagoons or
Florentine streets one feels the racy American temper, nothing daunted by the Old
World. No description of Venice could be, as far as they go, more daintily, affec-
tionately true." — Times.

HOWELLS-Italian Journeys. 2 Vols. 2s.

"Venetian Life and Italian Journeys are delightful reading, and they bear the
promise of the future novelist in them. When he travelled in Italian towns he
was studying human nature, and fortunately there have been preserved in these
two books a vast number of little studies, minute observations, such as in abund-
ance go to make the writer of fiction." — Century.

18 LIST OF BOOKS

IRVING— A Memorial Sketch and a Selection from the

Letters of the late Lieut. John Irving, R.N., of H.M.S. "Terror," in Sir John
Franklin's Expedition to the Arctic Regions. Edited by Benjamin Bell, F.R.C.S.E.
With Facsimiles of the Record and Irving's Medal and Map. 1 vol. post Svo, 5s.

Jack and Mrs. Brown, and other Stories.

By the Author of " Blindpits." 1 vol. crown Svo, paper, 2s. 6d. ; cloth, 3s. 6d.

JENKIN— Healthy Houses.

By Fleeming Jenkin, F.R.S., Professor of Engineering in the University of Edin-
burgh. Demy Svo, 2s. 6d.

"The three lectures will be found specially useful to the largely increasing class
of house proprietors." — Cmirant.

JERVISE -Epitaphs and Inscriptions from Burial-Grounds

and Old Buildings in the North-East of Scotland. By the late Andrew Jervise,
F.S.A. Scot. With a Memoir of the Author. Vol. II. Cloth, small 4to, 32s.
Do. do. Roxburghe Edition, 42s.

JERVISE— The History and Traditions of the Land of the

Lindsays in Angus and Meams. New Edition, Edited and Revised by the Rev.
James Gammack. In 1 vol. demy Svo. 14s.

Do. do. Large Paper Edition [of which only 50 are printed], demy 4to, Rox-
burghe binding, 42s.
" The editing of these remains has been very careful, and the book, though it
has its arid tracts, is sure to please north country readers."

JOASS— A Brief Review of the Silver Question, 1871 to 1879.

By Edward C. Joass, Fellow of the Faculty of Actuaries, Edin. Svo, Is.

KENNEDY— Pilate's Question, " Whence art Thou ? "

An Essay on the Personal Claims asserted by Jesus Christ, and how to account for
them. By John Kennedy, M.A., D.D., London. Crown Svo, 3s. 6d.

" Written on a skilfully arranged plan, is unquestionably a powerful and eloquent
vindication of the orthodox and Catholic belief in opposition to rationalistic
theories." — Scotsman.

KER— Sermons by the Rev. John Ker, D.D., Glasgow.

Twelfth Edition. Crown Svo, 6s.

"A very remarkable volume of sermons." — Contemporary Review.

" The sermons before us are of no common order ; among a host of competitors
they occupy a high class — we were about to say the highest class — whether viewed
in point of composition, or thought, or treatment." — B. and F. Evangelical Review.

KNIGHT— The English Lake District as interpreted in the

Poems of Wordsworth. By William Knight, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the
University of St. Andrews. Ex. fcap. Svo, 5s.

KNIGHT— Colloquia Peripatetica (Deep Sea Soundings) :

Being Notes of Conversations with the late John Duncan, LL.D., Professor of
Hebrew in the New College, Edinburgh. By William Knight, Professor of Moral
Philosophy in the University of St. Andrews. Fifth Edition, enlarged. 5s.

" Since these lectures were published there has appeared an exceedingly in-
teresting volume entitled ' Colloquia Peripatetica,' by the late John Duncan, LL.D.,
Professor of Hebrew in the New College, Edinburgh. These Colloquies are reported
by the Rev. Win. Knight, who seems to be admirably adapted for the task he has
undertaken. His friend must have been a man of rare originality, varied culture,
great vigour in expressing thoughts which were worthy to be expressed and re-

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS. 19

membered. . . . The reader who shall give himself the benefit and gratification
of studying this short volume (it will suggest more to him than many of ten times
its size) will find that I have not been bribed to speak well of it by any praise
which Dr. Duncan has bestowed on me. The only excuse for alluding to it is, that
it contains the severest censure on my writings which they have ever incurred,
though they have not been so unfortunate as to escape censure. . . . Against
any ordinary criticism, even a writer who is naturally thin-skinned becomes by
degrees tolerably hardened. One proceeding from a man of such learning and
worth as Dr. Duncan I have thought it a duty to notice." — Extract from Preface to
" The Conscience." By the late Professor F. D. Maurice, Second Edition, 1S72.

LAING— Lindores Abbey, and the Burgh of Newburgh ;

Their History and Annals. By Alexander Laing, LL.D., F.S.A. Scot. 1 vol.
small 4to. With Index, and thirteen Full-page and ten Woodcut Illustrations, 21s.

" This is a charming volume in every respect."— Notes and Queries.

" The prominent characteristics of the work are its exhaustiveness and the
thoroughly philosophic spirit in which it is written." — Scotsman.

LAING— Triumphs of Christianity illustrated by History.

A Lecture by Alexander Laino, LL.D. Crown Svo, Is.

LANMAN— Recollections of Curious Characters and Plea-

mt Places. By Charles Lanman, Washington; Author of "Adventures in the
Hlds of America," "A Canoe Voyage up the Mississippi," "A Tour to the River

sant !
Wild
Saguenay," etc. etc. In 1 vol. small demy Svo, 12s.

The Boy-Hunter of Chicoutimie.
The Potomac Fisherman.
Sword-Fish Fishing.
Newfoundland.
Block Island, etc.

The Wizard of Anticosti.

Forest Recollections.

The Hunters of the Sea Elephant.

Around Cape Horn.

Montauk Point.

Salmon - Fishing on the Jacques
Cartier.

"It is not unpleasant to be sometimes reminded by the appearance of a book of
travel, written with greater fidelity and wider knowledge than is usually found,
how little we know of the world and how large it really is. Mr. Lanman conscien-
tiously notes down all that he has seen and what he knows."— Satwday Review.

"A bundle of delightful reminiscences touched with that light and graceful
hand which is common to all his type."— Academy.

LANCASTER— Essays and Reviews.

By the late Henry H. Lancaster, Advocate ; with a Prefatory Notice by the Rev.
B. Jowett, Master of Balliol College, Oxford. Demy Svo, with Portrait, 14s.

LATHROP - An Echo of Passion.

By Geo. Parsons Lathrop. 32mo, Is. ; and in cloth, 2s.

LAURIE— On the Philosophy of Ethics. An Analytical

Essay. By S. S. Laurie, A.M., F.R.S.E., Professor of the Theory, History, and
Practice of Education in the University of Edinburgh. Demy Svo, 6s.

"Mr Laurie's volume now before us is in substance, though not inform, a reply
to Mr Mill's Utilitarianism. Mr. Laurie has the metaphysical head and the
metaphysical training of his countrymen, and has brought both to bear with great
force on the problem proposed."— Saturday Review.

LAURIE— Notes on British Theories of Morals.

Demy Svo, 6s. . ,

" His criticisms are candid and highly instructive, e.g. those of the views ol
Bentham, Mill, and Bain. He manifests great aptitude m detecting radical de-
fects, in exposing logical inconsistencies, and in detecting the legitimate tendencies
of philosophical systems."— British Quarterly.

20 LIST OF BOOKS

LOBIMER— Bible Studies in Life and Truth.

By the Rev. Robert Lorimer, M.A., Free Church, Mains and Strathmartine. In
1 vol. crown 8vo, 5s.

"It is in several respects a remarkable volume. . . . These discourses, the
outcome of a thoughtful, earnest, and vigorous mind, are written in a strain of
chaste and manly eloquence, and they are even more valuable for what they
suggest than for what they directly teach."— Scotsman.

"There is in these studies much that will help to govern the will, satisfy the
mind with truth, and the heart with life." — Daily Review.

"The distinctive fragrance of the old evangelical preaching of our fathers is
combined with the modern spirit of exact research in Biblical science . . . and
these studies may be regarded as a proof that the reconciliation between the old
and the new in our Scottish Christian life is not so difficult as some suppose."—
Aberdeen Free Press.

" On every line of these sermons there is a trace of care and anxious thought.
This preacher is no extempore orator. He is a student, and has made himself
familiar with the best models." — Dundee Advertiser.

"They are characterised by penetrative thought, lucidity, and cogency of state-
ment, and a chaste and classic eloquence. They evince earnest study and wide
reading." — Glasgow Herald.

IiTND— Sermons.

By Rev. Adam Lind, M.A., Elgin. Ex. fcap. 8vo, 5s.

A Lost Battle.

A Novel. 2 vols. Crown 8vo, 17s.

"This in every way remarkable novel." — Morning Post.

" We are all the more ready to do justice to the excellence of the author's drawing
of characters." — Athenaeum.

M'CRIE— John Calvin, a Fragment by the Late Thomas

M'Crie, Author of " The Life of John Knox." Demy Svo, 6s.

MACDUFF— The Parish of Taxwood, and some of its Older

Memories. By Rev. J. R. Macduff, D.D. 1 vol. extra fcap. 8vo, illustrated,
3s. 6d.

"A delightful little volume, as true to the life as it is picturesque in its subjects.
. . . We shall be inclined to add this unpretentious volume to the standard
authorities on these favourite subjects. . . . Unpretending as the pictures may
be, to paint these worthy people to the life demands no little shrewdness of
observation, considerable power of mental analysis, with a combination of rarer
faculties. In the pictures we have quaint drollery as well as kindly satire ; and
while each has some fascination of its own, one at least is wonderfully pathetic.
. . . We think we have said enough to send our readers to a book which, while
showing unusual powers of observation, is written with equal simplicity and deep
earnestness of feeling." — Saturday Review.

"It is charmingly written, and deserves to be popular on both sides of the
Tweed." — Liverpool Mercury.

" This is the sort of book which is sure to be popular and warmly appreciated by
Scotchmen, whether at home or in the colonies." — Perthshire Constitutional.

"Dr. Macduff has given us a specially delightful and instructive volume, a series
of character sketches which are sure to live, and of memories which readers who
can appreciate solid worth will not willingly let die. Shrewd, practical sense,
kindly humour, and quiet sarcasm add to the liveliness of a work which will be
equally valued for its lofty devotion and its moral and spiritual healthfulness.
' Taxwood ' will secure for itself no secondary place in the literature of Scottish
reminiscences." — Freeman.

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS. 21

MACFAELANE- Principles of the Algebra of Logic, with

Examples, by Alex. MacFarlane, M.A., D.Sc. (Edin.), F.R.S.E. 5s.

MACK AY— Memoir of Sir James Dalrymple, First Vis-
count Stair. A Study in the Ilistory of Scotland and Scotch Law during the
Seventeenth Century. By M. J. G. Mackay, Advocate. Svo, 12s.

MACKENZIE— Storms and Sunshine of a Soldier's Life.

Lt. -General Colin Mackenzie, C.B., 1825-1881. With a Portrait. 2 vols, crown
Svo, 15s.

"Since the publication of Mr. Marshman's 'Memories of Sir Henry Havelock,'
some twenty years ago, we have received no biography of this class with so sincere
an admiration and so keen a delight." — Freeman.

" Should be read by all who feel an interest in the history of British India during
the last half century." — Newcastle Couraut.

" A very readable biography . . . of one of the bravest and ablest officers of the
East India Company's army."— Saturday Eveiew.

MACLAGAN- Nugse Canora? Medicae.

Lays of the Poet Laureate of the New Town Dispensary. Edited by Professor
Douglas Maclagan. 4to. With Illustrations, 7s. 6d.

MACLAGAN- The Hill Forts, Stone Circles, and other

Structural Remains of Ancient Scotland. By C. Maclagan, Lady Associate of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. With Plans and Illustrations. 1 vol. fol.,
31s. 6d.

"We need not enlarge on the few inconsequential speculations which rigid
archaeologists may find in the present volume. We desire rather to commend it to
their careful study, fully assured that not only they, but also the general reader,
will be edified by its perusal." — Scotsman.

M'LAEEN- The Light of the World.

By David M'Laken, Minister of Humbie. Crown Svo, extra, 6s.

" We are conscious of having but very inadequately represented this valuable
book, and can only hope that what we have said may lead all who have the oppor-
tunity to study it for themselves."— Literary World.

M'LAFwEJST— The Book of Psalms in Metre.

According to the version approved of by the Church of Scotland. Revised by Rev.
David M'Laren. Crown Svo. 7s. 6d.

MACPHEESON- Omnipotence belongs only to the Beloved.

By Mrs. Brewster Macpherson. 1 vol. extra fcap., 3s. Od.

MAXWELL— Antwerp Delivered in MDLXXVII. :

A Passage from the History of the Netherlands, illustrated with Facsimiles of a
rare Series of Designs by Martin de Vos, and of Prints by Hogenberg, the Wierixes,
etc. By Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, Bart., K.T. and M.P. In 1 vol. folio,
5 guineas.

"A splendid folio in richly ornamented binding, protected by an almost equally
ornamental slip-cover. . . . Remarkable illustrations of the manner in which the
artists of the time ' pursued their labours in a country ravaged by war, and m
cities ever menaced by siege and sack.'" — Scotsman.

22 LIST OF BOOKS

MAXWELL-The History of Old Dundee, narrated out of

the Town Council Register, with additions from Contemporary Annals. By
Alexander Maxwell, F.S.A. Scot. In 1 vol. 4to (to subscribers) 21s.

MAYER— The Gun and Rod in America.

Illustrated by the best Artists. Edited by Professor Mayer. In 2 vols, royal
8vo, half-morocco, gilt top.

"Sumptuous volumes of a magnificence in design and excellence beyond anything
else ever produced in the literature of American field sports."- — Forest and Stream.

MICHIE— History of Loch Kinnord.

By the Rev. J. G. Michie. Demy Svo, 2s. 6d.

"It is throughout a piece of genuine, honest, literary workmanship, dealing
thoroughly with its subject on the basis of careful study and personal inquiry and
labour." — Aberdeen Free Press.

MILN— Researches and Excavations at Carnac (Morbihan),

The Bossenno, and Mont St. Michel. By James Miln. In 1 vol. royal Svo, with Maps,
Plans, and numerous Illustrations in Wood-Engraving and Chromolithography.

"Mr. Miln has made some interesting discoveries, and his record of them is
simply and modestly written. He seems to have spared no pains either in making
his excavations, or in writing and illustrating an account of them. . . . Mr. Miln has
thus an opportunity worthy of an ambitious archaeologist, and he has succeeded in
using it well." — Saturday Review.

"This elegant volume, one of those which are the luxury of art, is the work of
an enthusiastic and well-informed antiquary."— British Quarterly.

MILN— Excavations at Carnac (Brittany), a Record of Archae-
ological Researches in the Alignments of Kermario. By James Miln. In 1 vol.
royal Svo, with Maps, Plans, and numerous Illustrations in Wood-Engraving. 15s.

MITCHELL— The Past in the Present— What is Civilisa-
tion? Being the Rhind Lectures in Archaeology, delivered in 1S76 and 1S7S. By
Arthur Mitchell, M.D.,LL.D., Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
In 1 vol. demy Svo, with 14S Woodcuts, 15s.

" Whatever differences of opinion, however, may be held on minor points, there can
be no question that Dr. Mitchell's work is one of the ablest and most original pieces
of archaeological literature which has appeared of late years." — St. James's Gazette.

MITCHELL— Our Scotch Banks:

Their Position and their Policy. By Wm. Mitchell, S.S.C. Third Edition. Svo, 5s.

MOLBECH— Ambrosius :

A Play, translated from the Danish of Christian K. F. Molbeeh by Alice Berry.
Extra fcap. Svo, 5s.

MOEETON-On Horse-Breaking.

By Robert Moreton. Second Edition. Fcap. Svo, Is.

MUIR — Ecclesiological Notes on some of the Islands of

Scotland, with other Papers relating to Ecclesiological Remains on the Scottish
Mainland and Islands. By Thomas S. Mdir, author of " Characteristics of Church
Architecture," etc. In 1 vol. demy Svo, with numerous Illustrations.

[In Preparation.

MUNRO— Ancient Scottish Lake-Dwellings or Crannogs,

with a Supplementary Chapter on Remains of Lake-Dwellings in England. By
Robert Munro, M.D., F.S.A. Scot. 1 vol. demy 8vo, profusely illustrated,
price 21s.

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS. 23

" It is a most valuable and methodical statement of all the facts connected
with liis own excavations in Ayrshire. It will doubtless become a standard
authority on the subject of which it treats." — Times.

"... Our readers maybe assured that they will find very much to interest
and instruct them in the perusal of the work." — Athenceum.

"... The issue of these reports in a handy volume was taken in hand by Dr.
Munro, and the result is seen in the carefully-prepared and admirably got-up
volume to which we have now to invite attention." — Saturday Review.

NAPIER— "The Lanox of Auld:"

An Epistolary Review of " The Lennox, by William Fraser." By Mark Napier.
With Woodcuts and Plates. 1 vol. 4to, 15s.

" The spirit of chivalry survives, though the age is gone. If any one doubts it he
has only to dip into the pages of 'Lanox of Auld.' ... It places the reader in
possession of both sides of the questions relating to the ' Earldom of Lennox.' " —
Scotsman.

NICHOLSON— Tenants' Gain not Landlords' Loss, and some

other Economic Aspects of the Land Question. By Joseph Shield Nicholson, M.A.,
Professor of Political Economy in the University of Edinburgh. 1 vol. crown Svo, 5s.

OBER — Camps in the Caribbees: Adventures of a Natu-
ralist in the Lesser Antilles. By Frederick Ober. Illustrations, demy Svo, 12s.

"Well-written and well-illustrated narrative of camping out among the Carib-
bees."— Westminster Review.

"Varied were his experiences, hairbreadth his escapes, and wonderful his glean-
ings in the way of securing rare birds." — The Literary World.

OGG— Cookery for the Sick and a Guide for the Sick-Room.

By C. H. Ogg, an Edinburgh Nurse. Fcap. Is.

OMOND— The Lord Advocates of Scotland from the close

of the Fifteenth Century to the passing of the Reform Bill. By G. W. T. Omond,
Advocate. 2 vols, demy Svo. 2Ss.

PATRICK, R. ~W. COCHRAN— Records of the Coinage of

Scotland, from the earliest period to the Union. Collected by R. W. Cochran-
Patrick, M.P. Only two hundred and fifty copies printed. Now ready, in 2 vols.
4to, with 16 Full-page Illustrations, Six Guineas.

"The future Historians of Scotland will be very fortunate if many parts of their
materials are so carefully worked up for them and set before them in so complete
and taking a form." — Athenwum.

" When we say that these two volumes contain more than 770 records, of which
more than 550 have never been printed before, and that they arc illustrated by a
series of Plates, by the autotvpe process, of the coins themselves, the reader may
judge for himself of the learning, as well as the pains, bestowed on them both by
the Author and the Publisher." — Times.

" The most handsome and complete Work of the kind which has ever been pub-
lished in this country." — Numismatic Chronicle, Ft. IV., 187(5.

"We have in these Records of the Coinage of Scotland, not the production of B
dilettante, but of a real student, who, with rare pains and the most scholarly dili-
gence has set to work and collected into two massive volumes a complete nistorjr
of the coinage of Scotland, so far as it can be gathered from the ancient records.
— Academy.

24 LIST OF BOOKS

PATRICK— Early Records relating to Mining in Scotland :

Collected by R. W. Cochran-Patrick, M.P. Demy 4to, 31s. 6d.

"The documents contained in the body of the work are given without altera-
tion or abridgment, and the introduction is written with ability and judgment,
presenting a clear and concise outline of the earlier history of the Mining Industries
of Scotland." — Scotsman.

"The documents . . . comprise a great deal that is very curious, and no less
that will be important to the historian in treating of the origin of one of the most
important branches of the national industry." — Daily News.

"Such a book . . . revealing as it does the first developments of an industry
which has become the mainspring of the national prosperity, ought to be specially
interesting to all patriotic Scotchmen." — Saturday Review.

PATRICK -The Medals of Scotland: a Descriptive Cata-
logue of the Royal and other Medals relating to Scotland. By R. W. Cochran-
Patrick, M.P., of Woodside. Dedicated by special permission to Her Majesty the
Queen. In 1 vol. 4to, with plates in facsimile of all the principal pieces.

Phoebe.

By the Author" of "Rutledge." Reprinted from the Fifth Thousand of the
American Edition. Crowu Svo, Os.

" ' Phcebe ' is a woman's novel." — Saturday Review.

Popular Genealogists ;

Or, The Art of Pedigree-making. Crown Svo, 4s.

"We have here an agreeable little treatise of a hundred pages, from an anony-
mous but evidently competent haud, on the ludicrous and fraudulent sides of
genealogy. The subject has a serious and important historical character, when
regarded from the point of view of the authors of The Governing Families of
England. But it is rich in the materials of comedy also.

"The first case selected by the writer before us is one which has often excited
our mirth by the very completeness of its unrivalled absurdity. Nobody can turn
over the popular genealogical books of our day without dropping on a family
called Coulthart of Coulthart, Collyn, and Ashton-under-Lyne. The pedigree given
makes the house beyond all question the oldest in Europe. Neither the Bourbons
nor Her Majesty's family can be satisfactorily earned beyond the ninth century,
whereas the Coultharts were by that time an old and distinguished house.

"We are glad to see such a step taken in the good work as the publication of the
essay which has suggested this article, and which we commend to those who want
a bit of instructive and amusing reading." — Pall Mall Gazette.

PORTER— The Gamekeeper's Manual : being Epitome of the

Game Laws for the use of Gamekeepers and others interested in the Preserva-
tion of Game. By Alexander Porter, Deputy Chief Constable of Roxburghshire.
Fcap. Svo, Is.

REID— Pictures from the Orkney Islands.

By John T. Reid, Author of "Art Rambles iu Shetland." In 1 vol. 4to, with
numerous Illustrations, 25s.

RENT ON— Oils and Water Colours.
By William Renton. 1 vol. fcap., os.

" The book is obviously for the Artist and the Poet, and for every one who shares
with them a true love and zeal for nature's beauties."— Scotsman.

" To have observed such a delicate bit of colouring as this, and to have written
so good a sonnet in the ' strict style,' as that we have quoted, shows that our
author has no common powers either as an observer or a writer." — Liverpool Albion.

" To those minds that really hold this joy in beauty, Mr. Rentou's book will
undoubtedly give delight." — Northern Ensign.,

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS.

25

EOBEKTSON-Kuram, Kabul, and Kandahar : being a Brief

Record of the Impressions in Three Campaigns under General Roberts. By Lieut
Robertson, 8th, "The King's," Regiment. 1 vol. crown Svo, with Maps, 6s.

ROBERTSON"— Historical Essays,

In connection with the Land and the Church, etc.
Author of " Scotland under her Early Kings.

By E. William Robertson,
In 1 vol. Svo, 10s. 6d.

ROBERTSON— Scotland under her Early Kings.

A History of the Kingdom to the close of the 13th century. By E. William
Roeertson. In 2 vols. Svo, cloth, 36s.

" Mr. Robertson's labours are of that valuable kind where an intelligent and
thorough sifting of original authorities is brought to bear upon a portion of history
handed over hitherto, in a pre-eminent degree, to a specially mendacious set of
Mediaeval Chroniclers, and (not so long ago) to a specially polemical and uncritical
class of modern historians. He belongs to the school of Innes and Skene and
Joseph Robertson, and has established a fair right to be classed with the Reeves
and Todds of Irish historical antiquarianism, and the Sharpes, and Kembles, and
Hardys in England." — Guardian.

ROSEBERY— A Rectorial Address delivered before the Stu-
dents of Aberdeen University, in the Music Hall at Aberdeen, on Nov. 5, 1SS0. By
Lord Rosebery. In demy Svo, price 6d.

ROSEBERY -A Rectorial Address delivered before the

Students of the University of Edinburgh, November 4, 1SS2. By Lord Rosebery.
Demy Svo, price 6d.

ST. JOHN— Notes and Sketches from the Wild Coasts of

Nipon. With Chapters on Cruising after Pirates in Chinese Waters. By Henry
C. St. John, Captain R.N. In 1 vol. small demy Svo, with Maps and Illustrations,
price 12s.

Round Yesso.

The Inland Sea Revisited.

Currents and Typhoons.

A Summer's Walk in Kiusiu.

Deer-Shooting and other matters.

The Kii Coast.

Insects.

Shooting, etc.

Singing-Birds and Flowers, etc.

Customs and Habits.

Past and Present.

Korea.

Cruising after Pirates.

Shooting in China.

More Cruising after Pirates.

Resume.

" One of the most charming books of travel that has been published for some
time." — Scotsman.

"There is a great deal more in the book than Natural History. . . . His
pictures of life and manners are quaint and effective, and the more so from the
writing being natural and free from effort." — Athenceum.

" He writes with a simplicity and directness, and not seldom with a degree of
graphic power, which, even apart from the freshness of the matter, render his book
delightful reading. Nothing could be better of its kind than the description of the
Inland Sea." — Daily News.

"He dedicates the volume in a few graceful sentences to the memory of his
father, the well-known author of the ' Wild Sports and Natural History of the
Highlands,' etc. The son has certainly inherited the father's love of sport. . . .
Written in a perfectly simple and unpretending style, it bears evidence of much
literary taste, and is eminently the work of a keen sportsman."— Aberdeen Free
Press.

" The notes of so keen an observer of the habits of plants, insects, and animals,
and on sea currents and storms, are not merely of curious interest in themseh es,
they will be of the highest value in illustrating the natural history and meteor-

26 LIST OF BOOKS

ology of a region which, from its situation and productions, is of singular interest
to science." — Scotsman.

" Clearly and tersely written, ohviously the product of personal observation by
one who is primarily a lover and observer of nature." — Inverness Courier.

" For seven years he was surveying in Japan, and this work is the fruit of his
winter leisure. While coasting round Yesso and the Kuriles he constantly kept
the dredge at work, and discovered many new creatures. He does not confine him-
self to natural history ; he tells us a great deal more than even Miss Bird of life in
the interior of Japan. The book will take high rank." — Graphic.

"His rough notes of their very primitive ways are pleasantly put together —
some of these 'ways' being extremely 'peculiar,' according to European ideas,
but with a strange mixture of good and evil. Supporters of foreign missions might
do worse than study Captain St. John's remarks on the difference between the pro-
gress of Roman Catholic and Protestant missionary enterprise in the far East." —
North British Daily Mail.

ST. JOHN- Notes on the Natural History of the Province

of Moray. By the late Charles St. John, author of "Wild Sports in the High-
lands." Second Edition. In 1 vol. royal 8vo, with 40 page. Illustrations of Scenery
and Animal Life, engraved by A. Durand after sketches made by George Reid,
R.S.A., and J. Wycliffe Taylor ; also, 30 Pen-and-ink Drawings by the author in
facsimile. Price 50s.

" This is a new edition of the work brought out by the friends of the late Mr. St.
John in 1S63 ; but it is so handsomely and nobly printed, and enriched with such
charming illustrations, that we may consider it a new book." — St. James's Gazette.

" Charles St. John was not an artist, but he had the habit of roughly sketching
animals in positions which interested him, and the present reprint is adorned by a
great number of these, facsimiled from the author's original pen and ink. Some of
these, as, for instance, the studies of the golden eagle swooping on its prey, and
that of the otter swimming with a salmon in its mouth, are very interesting, and
full of that charm that comes from the exact transcription of unusual observa-
tion."— Pall Mall Gazette.

"The feature of the present edition is the series of beautiful sketches made
specially for this volume by Mr. George Reid, R.S.A., and Mr. Wycliffe Taylor,
together with numberless pieces from St. John's own sketch-book introduced into
the text. ' Roughness ' they (the latter) certainly possess, almost as if St. John
had thrown the inkstand at the paper, but withal a spirit of suggestiveness which
makes them well-nigh unique among portraits of birds and other animals, and we
cannot be too grateful to the editor for presenting them in this form." — Nation
(New York).

ST. JOHN— A Tour in Sutherlandshire, with Extracts from

the Field-Books of a Sportsman and Naturalist. By the late Charles St. John,
author of " Wild Sports and Natural History in the Highlands." Second Edition,
with an Appendix on the Fauna of Sutherland, by J. A. Harvie- Brown and
T. E. Buckley. Illustrated with the original wood-engravings, and additional
vignettes from the Author's sketch-books. In 2 vols., small demy Svo, 21s.

SCHIERN— Life of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell.

By Professor Schiern, Copenhagen. Translated from the Danish by the Rev.
Davtd Berry, F.S.A. Scot. Demy Svo, 16s.

" The real interest in the book lies in the information which it contains about
the life of Bothwell after the surrender at Carberry. The only trustworthy infor-
mation concerning the latter period of his life must be sought from Scandinavian
sources."

" Not only well written and interesting, but at the same time so thoroughly
trustworthy that it can well bear the test of close critical examination."— Saturday
Review.

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS. 27

Scotch Folk.

Illustrated. Third Edition enlarged. Ex. fcap. 8vo, price Is.

"They are stories of the best type, quite equal in the main to the average of
Dean Ramsay's well-known collection." — Aberdeen Free Press.

SHAIRP— Studies in Poetry and Philosophy.

By J. C. Shairp, LL.D., Principal of the United College of St. Salvator and St.
Leonard, St. Andrews. Second Edition. 1 vol. fcap. Svo, 6s.

"In the 'Moral Dynamic,' Mr. Shairp seeks for something which shall per-
suade us of the vital and close bearing on each other of moral thought and spiritual
energy. It is this conviction which has animated Mr. Shairp in every page of the
volume before us. It is because he appreciates so justly and forcibly the powers
of philosophic doctrine over all the field of human life, that he leans with such
strenuous trust upon those ideas which Wordsworth unsystematically, and Cole-
ridge more systematically, made popular and fertile among us." — Saturday Review.

" The finest essay in the volume, partly because it is upon the greatest and most
definite subject, is the first, on Wordsworth. . . . We have said so much upon
this essay that we can only say of the other three that they are fully worthy to
stand beside it." — Spectator.

SHAIRP— Culture and Religion.

By Principal Shairp, LL.D. Seventh Edition. Fcap. Svo, 3s. 6d.

"A wise book, and unlike a great many other wise books, has that carefully
shaded thought and expression which fits Professor Shairp to speak for Culture
no less than for Religion." — Spectator.

" Those who remember a former work of Principal Shairp's, ' Studies in Poetry
and Philosophy,' will feel secure that all which comes from his pen will bear the
marks of thought, at once careful, liberal, and accurate. Nor will they be dis-
appointed in the present work. . . . We can recommend this book to our
readers." — Athenceum.

"We cannot close Swithout earnestly recommending the book to thoughtful
young men. They will find in it the work of a cultivated and learned mind, and
of a pure, generous, and upright heart. It combines the loftiest intellectual power
with a simple and childlike faith in Christ, and exerts an influence which must be
stimulating and healthful."— Freeman.

SHAIRP— On Poetic Interpretation of Nature.

By J. C. Shairp, LL.D., Principal of the United College of St. Salvator and St.
Leonard, St. Andrews. Second Edition. In 1 vol. ex. fcap. Svo, 6s.

" There is a real sense of relief and refreshment on turning from the news of the
day to the unspeakable repose of nature, and in the sense of coolness, and still-
ness, and greenness, of which we become conscious as we follow Professor Shairp
through these interesting and suggestive pages." — Times.

SHAIRP -Wordsworth's Tour in Scotland in 1803, in Com-
pany with his Sister and S. T. Coleridge ; being the Journal of Miss Wmaisivi.ia n
now for the first time made public. Edited by Principal Shairp, LL.D. Second
Edition. 1 vol. crown Svo, 6s.

'• If there were no other record of her than those brief extracts from Her Journal
during the Highland Tour, which stand at the head of several of her brothers
poems, these alone would prove her possessed of a large portion of his genius.' —
North British Review.

" The volume glistens with passages nearly as charming, showing how rich in
' Wordsworthian ' fancy was this modest sister. . . . We have to thank l'r.
Shairp, and the thanks must be hearty, for now for the first time giving them tit a
complete form." — Athenceum.

28 LIST OF BOOKS

" All who love Wordsworth and Nature will welcome this book. To many it
will add a more precious seeing to the eye, and make them understand how, if
they look, they will see." — Scotsman.

" Next to the charming simplicity we like the quiet, picturesque power of this
diary." — Dundee Advertiser.

" The book is one to be read and prized— to be read through with delight, and
to be often taken up again with an over-full enjoyment." — Daily Review.

" A simple, and in many respects a touching record is this, brimming over
with sisterly love — womanly, tender, and graceful." — Standard.

" Many readers will turn with a pure delight from mental wars and questions
to wander amid the grandeur and beauty of Scottish glens and mountains in the
company of so bright a being as Dora Wordsworth, the loved and loving sister
of the poet. — Windsor Gazette.

" As a picture of Scotland seventy years ago, there is not in the whole com-
pass of English Literature a work that can be said to equal or even approach this
one." — Literary World.

" The 'Journal' would be worth reading if it were only for the sake of finding
these lines in their proper place : ' Wliat ? you are stepping Westward ? Yea. ' " —
Academy.

" It will extend the fame of Wordsworth, and cause many who know him not,
or are little acquainted with his writings, to become his admirers ; and evermore
with us the name ' Dorothy ' shall be melodious as the name of one who is a
sweet-souled benefactress of our race." — Aberdeen Herald.

SHAIEP— Kilmahoe, a Highland Pastoral,

And other Poems. Fcap. 8vo,'6s.

SIBBALD— The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, The

Inferno. A Translation in Terza Rima, with Notes and Introductory Essay. By
James Romanes Sibbald. With an Engraving after Giotto's Portrait. In One
Volume, small Demy 8vo. Price 12s.

SIMPSON"— The Wear and the Far View,

And other Sermons. By Rev. A. L. Simpson, D.D., Derby. 1 vol. ex. fcap. 8vo, 5s.
" Very fresh and thoughtful are these sermons." — Literary World.

' " Dr. Simpson's sermons may fairly claim distinctive power. He looks at things
with his own eyes, and often shows us what with ordinary vision we had failed to
perceive. . . . The sermons are distinctively good." — British Quarterly Review.

SIMPSON— Areha3ological Essays.

By the late Sir James Simpson, Bart. Edited by the late John Stuart, LL.D.
2 vols. 4to, 21s.

1. Archaeology.

2. Inchcolm.

3. The Cat Stane.

4. Magical Charm-Stones.

5. Pyramid of Gizeh.

6. Leprosy and Leper Hos-

pitals.

7. Greek Medical Vases.

S. Was the Roman Army
provided with Medical
Officers? [etc. etc.

9. Roman Medicine Stamps,

SKENE- The Pour Ancient Books of Wales,

Containing the Cymric Poems attributed to the Bards of the sixth century. By
William F. Skene, Historiographer-Royal for Scotland. With Maps and Fac-
similes. 2 vols. 8vo, 36s.

"Mr. Skene's book will, as a matter of course and necessity, find its place on
the tables of all Celtic antiquarians and scholars." — Archceologia Cambrensis.

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS. 29

SKENE— Celtic Scotland: A History of Ancient Alban.

In Three vols. 45s. Illustrated with Maps.

I. — History and Ethnology. II. — Church and Culture.
III. — Land and People.

" Forty years ago Mr. Skene published a small historical work on the Scottish

Highlands which has ever since been appealed to as an authority, but which has

long been out of print. The promise of this youthful effort is amply fulfilled in

'- the three weighty volumes of his maturer years. As a work of historical research

it ought in oar opinion to take a very high rank." — Times.

SKENE-The Gospel History for the Young :

Being lessons on the Life of Christ, Adapted for use in Families and Sunday
Schools. By William F. Skene, D.C.L., Historiographer - Royal for Scotland.
Small crown Svo, in Three vols. , with Maps, 5s. each vol.

" In a spirit altogether unsectarian, provides for the young a simple, interesting,
and thoroughly charming history of our Lord." — Literary World.

" This ' Gcspel History for the Young' is one of the most valuable books of the
kind."— The Churchman.

SMALL— Scottish "Woodwork of the Sixteenth and Seven-
teenth Centuries. Measured, Drawn, and Lithographed by J. W. Small, Architect.
In one folio volume, with 130 Plates, Four Guineas.

" Mr. J. W. Small's very admirable volume, illustrative of ancient Scottish wood-
work. ... It is impossible to over-estimate the value of the minute details that
abound in Mr. Small's admirable work. Very opportunely has Mr. Small come to
the rescue of art furniture with his admirable work, of which it is impossible to
speak in unduly eulogistic terms." — Furniture Gazette.

SMITH— Shelley : a Critical Biography.

By George Barnett Smith. Ex. fcap. Svo, 6s.

SMITH— The Sermon on the Mount.
By the Rev. Walter C. Smith, D.D. Crown Svo, 6s.

SMITH— Answer to the Form of Libel before the Free

Presbytery of Aberdeen. By W. Robertson Smith, Professor of Oriental Languages
and Exegesis of the Old Testament in the Free Church College, Aberdeen. Svo, Is.

SMITH— Additional Answer to the Libel,

With some Account of the Evidence that parts of the Pentateuchal Law are later
than the Time of Moses. By W. Robertson Smith, Professor of Oriental Languages
and Exegesis of the Old Testament in the Free Church College, Aberdeen. Svo, Is.

SMITH — Answer to the Amended Libel, with Appendix

containing Plea in Law. By W. Robertson Smith. Svo, 6d.

SMITH— Open Letter to Principal Rainy. 6d.
SMITH-The Papal Authority, as affirmed by Pius IX. and

the Vatican Council, considered both as a Theological Doctrine and in its bearings
on Political Liberty. (The Gordon Priz Essay.) By Rev. John Smith, Free
Church Minister of Tarland. Small crown svo, price Is.

SMYTH-Life and Work at the Great Pyramid.

With a Discussion of the Facts ascertained. By C. Piazzi Smyth, F.R.SS.L. and
E., Astronomer- Royal for Scotland. 3 vols, demy Svo, 56s.

30 LIST OF BOOKS

SMYTH— Madeira Meteorologic :

Being a Paper on the above subject read before the Royal Society, Edinburgh, on
the 1st of May 1882. By C. Piazzi Smyth, Astronomer-Royal for Scotland. In
1 vol. small 4to, price 6s.

SOUTHESK— Saskatchewan and the Rocky Mountains.

Diary and Narrative of Travel, Sport, and Adventure, during a Journey through
part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Territories in 1S59 and lSOO. By the Earl
of Sodthesk, K.T., F.R.G.S. 1 vol. demy Svo, with Illustrations ou Wood by
Whymper, 18s.

SOUTHESK— Herminius :

A Romance. By I. E. S. Fcap. Svo, Cs.

SOUTHESK— Jonas Fisher :

A Poem in Brown and White. Cheap Edition. Price Is.

SOUTHESK — The Burial of Isis and other Poems.

Fcap. Svo.

SPEDDING. See GAIEDNEE.

SPEWS— Darroll, and other Poems.

By Walter Cook Spens, Advocate. Crown Svo, 5s.

" This volume will repay perusal. It is one which could have been written
only by a man of culture." — Daily Review.

" He writes with feeling, and displays considerable facility in the handling of
almost every ordinary variety of metre." — Scotsman.

SPENS— Should the Poor -Law in all Cases deny Relief to

the Able-bodied Poor? By Walter Cook Spens, Advocate, Sheriff-Substitute of
Lanarkshire. Demy Svo, Is.

SPINNAKER— Spindrift from the Hebrides.

By Spinnaker. With Eight Etchings. Crown Svo, Is. 6d.

STOCKTON-Rudder Grange.

By Frank R. Stockton. 1 vol. 3imo, Is. : and cloth, 2s.

" It may be safely recommended as a very amusing little book." — Afhenceum.

"The style has an engaging freshness and nawete, and the amusing situations,
of which the book is full, are hit off with much humour of the more delicate order."
■ — Glasgow News.

"This is a volume of American humour, pure and sparkling as lemonade." —
■ — Aberdeen Free Press.

"Altogether 'Rudder Grange' is as cheery, as humorous, and as wholesome a
little story as we have read for many a day." — St. James's Gazette.

"The minutest incidents are narrated with such genuine humour and gaiety,
that at the close of the volume the reader is sorry to take leave of the merry
innocent party." — Westminster Review.

STOCKTON— The Lady or the Tiger? and other Stories.

By Frank R. Stockton. 32mo, Is. ; and cloth, 2s.

STEVENSON — Christianity Confirmed by Jewish and

Heathen Testimony, and the Deductions from Physical Science, etc. By Thomas
Stevenson, F.R.S.E., F.G.S., Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Second Edition. Fcap. Svo, 3s. 6d.

PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS. 31

STRACHAlsr-What is Play ?

A Physiological Inquiry. Its bearing upon Education and Training. By John
Strachan, M.D., Jun. In 1 vol. fcap., Is.

" We have great pleasure in directing the attention of our readers to this little
work . . . bearing as it does on one of the most important aspects of physiological
medicine, as well as on education in the highest sense of the word."— Lancet.

" A very interesting, and, in the main, a wise little book."— Mind.

" It is so seldom that so much sound sense, clear reasoning, and able develop-
ment of ideas, which will probably be new to the majority of readers, are com-
pressed into a hundred duodecimo pages, as Dr. Strachan has contrived to put
into his little treatise on Play."— Scotsman.

SYMINGTON"— Good Lives : Some.Fruits of the Nineteenth

Century. By A. M. Symington, D.D. 1 vol., small crown Svo, 3s. 6d.

TAIT— Sketch of Thermodynamics.

By P. G. Tait, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh.
Second Edition, revised and extended. Crown Svo, 5s.

Talks with our Farm-Servants.

By An Old Farm-Servant. Crown Svo ; paper 6d., cloth Is.

THOREATJ-Walden ; or, Life in the Woods.
By H. D. Thoreau. In 1 vol. crown Svo, 6s.

Tommie Brown and the Queen of the Fairies ; a new Child's

Book, in fcap. Svo. With Illustrations, 4s. 6d.

Let pain he pleasure, and pleasure be pain.

" There is no wonder that children liked the story. It is told neatly and well,
and is full of great cleverness, while it has that peculiar character the absence of
which from many like stories deprives them of any real interest for children." —
Scotsman.

" The story is a delightful bit of fancy, primarily calculated to create wonder-
ment in the youthful mind, but none but the dullest reader will turn over the
pages of the engrossing narrative without discovering that the author inculcates
numerous lessons of the most wholesome kind." — Daily Review.

" The author has contributed a story which could not fail to delight the hearts
of fairy-tale loving children." — Aberdeen Free Press. #

TROTTER— Our Mission to the Court of Maroceo in 1880,

under Sir John Drummond Hay, K.C.B., Minister Plenipotentiary at Tangier, and
Envoy Extraordinary to His Majesty the Sultan of Maroceo. By Captain Philip
Durham Trotter, 93d Highlanders. Illustrated from Photographs by the Hon.
D. Lawless, Rifle Brigade. In 1 vol. square demy Svo, 24s.

"Very attractively written .... not only highly instructive but also ex-
tremely amusing." — Times.

"There is much in this book which is well worth reading, and the author's
style is always lively. The illustrations of the most interesting places and ruins
are from photographs taken by Mr. Lawless, and are very successful."— Guardian.

The Book-Lover's Enchiridion : a Selection of Thoughts on

the Solace and Companionship of Books. 6s.

32 LIST OF BOOKS PUBLISHED BY DAVID DOUGLAS.

The Upland Tarn : A Village Idyll.

In 1 vol. small crown, price 5s.

WHITE— Mr. Washington Adams in England.

By Richard Grant White. In 1 vol. price Is. ; or in cloth 2s.

" One of the most practically useful of the shilling series of American authors."
— Greenock Telegraph.

"An impudent book." — Vanity Fair.

"This short, tiresome book." — Saturday Review.

" Brimful of genuine humour." — Montrose Standard.

"Mr. White is a capital caricaturist, but in portraying the ludicrous eccentri-
cities of the patrician Britisher he hardly succeeds so well as in delineating the
peculiar charms of the representative Yankee."— IVhitehall Review.

WILSON"— The Botany of Three Historical Records :

Pharaoh's Dream, The Sower, and the King's Measure. By A. Stephen Wilson.
Crowu Svo, with 5 plates, 3s. 6d.

" The book is useful as affording illustrations of Scripture incident and teach-
ing."— Inverness Courier.

" The writer deserves credit for the pains he has taken in making his researches,
and by means of well-designed woodcuts he has so illustrated the work as to make
his arguments as clear as is possible."— Courant.

WILSON-' A Bushel of Corn.'

By A. Stephen Wilson. An investigation by Experiments into all the more im-
portant questions which range themselves round a Bushel of Wheat, a Bushel of
Barley, and a Bushel of Oats. In 1 vol. crown Svo, with Illustrations, 9s.

" It is full of originality and force."— Nature.

" A monument of painstaking research." — Liverpool Mercury.

"Mr. Wilson's book is interesting not only for agriculturists and millers, but for
all who desire information on the subject of corn, in which every one is so inti-
mately concerned." — Morning Post.

WILSON— Songs and Poems.
By A. Stephen Wilson. Crown Svo.

WILSON— Reminiscences of Old Edinburgh.

By Daniel Wilson, LL.D., F.R.S.E., Professor of History and English Literature
in University College, Toronto, Author of "Prehistoric Annals of Scotland," etc.
etc. 2 vols, post Svo, 15s.

WYLD — Christianity and Reason :

Their necessary connection. By R. S. Wyld, LL.D. Extra fcap. Svo, 3s. 6d.

EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS, 15 Castle Street.

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