JAMES MACKENZIE'S GAIRLOCH STORIES.
The following stories have been related to me by James Mackenzie of
Kirkton, along with many traditions and facts embodied in other parts of
this book. James Mackenzie is an enthusiastic lover of family history
and local folk-lore, and whilst disowning superstitious fancies is quite
alive to the charms of romance. I have endeavoured to preserve the words
and phrases in which he communicated the stories, and where the pronoun
of the first person is used in the following tales, it must be taken as
coming from his lips.
James Mackenzie was born in 1808, and consequently remembers several of
the bards and pipers already mentioned. His elder brother was John
Mackenzie, so celebrated amongst Gaelic speakers as the compiler of the
"Beauties of Gaelic Poetry," and James shared with his brother the fund
of old stories which, in the days of their youth, they loved to listen
to at the "ceilidh," or social meetings, then so generally held during
the long winter nights.
James Mackenzie, who is a direct descendant in the sixth generation from
Alastair Breac, fifth laird of Gairloch, has been a sailor during much
of his life, and still affects the blue neckerchief and dark serge
clothes of the sea-faring man, topped with a Highland bonnet of the
Prince Charlie type. He is short in stature, and has very expressive
features. He has the true Highland _esprit_, combined with refined
courtesy and faithful attachment to his chief,--qualities which many
think are destined soon to become extinct.
Nearly all the following stories are strictly Gairloch tales, relating
incidents about Gairloch people. The anecdote of Rob Donn James
Mackenzie wished to be included, lest it might otherwise be lost.
WILLIAM ROY MACKENZIE.
"William Roy Mackenzie was stopping at Innis a bhaird. This was in the
eighteenth century, before they commenced making whisky in Gairloch.
William used to go to Ferintosh with his two horses with crook saddles,
carrying a cask of whisky on each side. He always went there about
Christmas. At that time Christmas was observed in Gairloch; now its
observance is given up. William had two horses, a white and a black; one
of them was fastened behind the tail of the other, the white horse
foremost. On the other side of Achnasheen there was an exciseman waiting
to catch William on his way home with four casks of whisky. The
exciseman hid himself until William came past. Then he jumped out from
his hiding-place, and caught the white horse by the halter, saying,
'This is mine.' Says William, 'I do not think you will say that
to-morrow; let go my horse.' 'No,' says the exciseman. 'Will you let him
go,' says William, 'if you get a permit with him?' 'Let me see your
permit,' says the exciseman, still dragging at the white horse. 'Stop,'
says William; 'let go the horse, the permit is in his tail.' He would
not let go; so when William saw that, he loosed the black horse from
behind the grey, that he might get at the permit. Then he lifted his
stick and struck the old grey so that he plunged and jumped, and in the
scrimmage one of the casks of whisky struck the exciseman and knocked
him down on the ground. Says William, 'There's the permit for you.' The
exciseman lay helpless on the ground; so William Roy got clean away with
all the whisky, and came home with it to Innis a bhaird."
KENNETH AND JOHN MACKENZIE OF RONA.
"One of the Mackenzies of Letterewe had a daughter who was married to a
man in Badfearn in Skye. A daughter of theirs became the wife of William
Mackenzie of Rona, who was one of the Mackenzies of Shieldaig of
Gairloch. He had a son named Kenneth; and Kenneth had two sons, called
Kenneth and John. They were out fishing in a smack of their own, when
they were attacked and taken by the press-gang. They were carried off,
and placed in a hulk lying in the Thames below London. One night they
were together in the same watch, and they then made a plan to escape. A
yacht belonging to a gentleman in London was in the river; she was out
and in every day, and always anchored alongside the hulk. The gentry
from the yacht were going ashore every night, and leaving only a boy in
her. The night the two brothers Kenneth and John were on the watch, the
boy was alone in the yacht. What did they do but decide to carry out
their plan of escape there and then! So they went through the gun-ports,
one on each side of the hulk, and swam to the yacht. Then they got the
yacht under weigh, the boy sleeping all the time. They got safe away
with the yacht, and worked her as far as to Loch Craignish, on this side
of Crinan. There they went ashore in the night, and left the yacht with
the boy. They left the yacht's gig ashore in Loch Craignish, and set off
on their way home. When the laird of Craignish saw the gig, and the
yacht lying in the loch, he went out in the gig to see what kind of
yacht she was. The brothers had left the papers of the yacht on the
cabin table, that it might be found out who she belonged to. So the
laird of Craignish wrote to the owners in London, and advised them to
send orders to him to sell the yacht and send the boy home with the
money. The owners did so, and the yacht was sold. She became the
mail-packet between Coll and Tobermory. I saw her long ago on that
service.
"The two brothers, Kenneth and John Mackenzie, got safe back to Rona,
and soon got another smack. They were going south with a cargo of fish,
through the Crinan Canal; the smack was lying in the basin after you
pass the first lock. There was a plank put to the shore from the gangway
of the vessel; by this they went ashore to the inn at Crinan. A girl in
the house went to the vessel and took the plank out; the two Mackenzies,
on going back to the smack in the dark, for want of the plank fell into
the basin, and were both drowned. They were relations of my mother. I
saw them when I was a boy at Mellon Charles. They were fine men."
JOHN MACGREGOR OF LONDUBH.
"John Mackenzie, son of William Mackenzie, the fourth laird of Gruinard,
by Lilias, daughter of Captain John Mackenzie of Kinloch (or Lochend),
was a captain in the 73rd Regiment in the end of the eighteenth century.
The Gruinard family had holes and presses in their houses at Udrigil and
Aird, where they kept men whom they had caught until they agreed to
enlist in the army. Gruinard got money for catching men for the army.
There was a man in Londubh named Ruaridh Donn or Rorie Macgregor, of the
Macgregors of Kenlochewe; he was an old man, and was still strong. He
had a son, John, who was a very strong bold man. Gruinard gathered a
gang of twelve men to catch John Macgregor. So Mackenzie Lochend sent
him down with a letter to Mackenzie Gruinard. John went with the letter,
and gave it to Mrs Mackenzie, Gruinard's wife. 'Come in, John,' she
said, 'till you get some meat before you go away to Poolewe.' So John
went in, and she made a piece for him; she gave him a slice of bread and
butter, and put a sovereign between the bread and butter so that he
might get it. When John was eating he found the gold in his mouth; he
put it in his pocket. So when he had finished eating, he came out of the
house to go away home, and there he saw the gang of twelve men ready to
catch him. Mrs Mackenzie told him he had got the king's money. 'It's not
much,' said he; 'I wish I would get more of it.' Says she, 'You'll get
that by-and-by.' 'I'm not so sure of that,' says John. Then the gang
took him. 'If you're going to keep me,' says John, 'send word to my old
father, that I may see him as I pass by; he is old and weak, and I will
never see him again.' So Mrs Mackenzie sent on word to his father to
meet him. John was sent away with the gang, and as they passed the
garden at Londubh, Ruaridh Donn came down to the road to meet his son,
leaning on his staff as if he were weak. 'Good bye! are you going away,
John?' says he. 'Oh yes! good-bye to you, I'll never see you again,'
says John. Then the old man got a hold of John, and put him between
himself and the wall. The old man was shaking on his stick. John lifted
his two hands and put them over his father's shoulders, and began
laughing and mocking the gang. So the twelve men dare not go near them,
and they left John to go home with his money.
"Captain John Mackenzie, son of Captain John Mackenzie, Kinloch, and
brother of Mrs Mackenzie, Gruinard, went to Skye to marry a daughter of
the minister of Cambusmore. He went in a boat with a crew of six men,
and Duncan Urquhart, his own valet. John Macgregor was one of the crew.
They went ashore at Port Golaig, near Ru Hunish, the point of Skye
furthest north. The captain and Duncan walked up to Cambusmore, but the
crew stopped with the boat. The captain and Duncan were in the
minister's house all the week. On the Saturday John Macgregor was sent
up to the manse by the rest of the crew to see what was keeping them. It
was late when John got to the manse. The captain came out and scolded
John, asking what business he had there, and saying he might go away any
time he pleased for all he cared. Then the minister came out, and said
John must stop in the house until the Sabbath, for it would not be safe
for him to return to the boat through the night. But John would go away
back, and he fell over the high rock near Duntulm Castle and was killed.
When the minister rose in the morning, he sent Duncan Urquhart to see if
John had arrived at the boat. When Duncan was going he saw part of
John's kilt caught on a point of rock, and found his dead body below. So
Duncan turned to the house and told the bad news. The minister said to
the captain, 'You may go home; you will not get my daughter this trip.'
John Macgregor's body was taken home in a box, and buried in the
churchyard at Inverewe. He left two daughters; one of them was married
to Murdo Crubach Fraser in Inverkerry, and was the mother of Kenneth
Fraser and John Fraser now living at Leac-nan-Saighead. A daughter of
Murdo Crubach's is the wife of Christopher Mackenzie, Brahan, and a son
of theirs is piper with the Mackintosh."
MURDO MACKENZIE, OR MURDO'S SON.
"There was a Mackenzie of an old Gairloch stock living in Ullapool, Loch
Broom. He was called in Gaelic 'Murchadh mac Mhurchaidh,' or, 'Murdo the
son of Murdo;' I will call him 'Murdo's son.' He was a very fine,
good-looking man, and very brave. He had a small smack, and he was
always going with her round the Mull of Kintyre to Greenock with
herrings from Loch Broom. Returning with the vessel empty, he put into a
place called Duncan's Well, in the Island of Luing, on the other side of
Oban. This island belongs to Lord Breadalbane to this day. Murdo's son
went ashore at night. There was a ball going on in a house, and Lord
Breadalbane's daughter was there. She fell in love at once with the
good-looking Murdo's son, and he fell in love with her. He took her away
with him that very night, and before daybreak they set sail for
Ullapool. When they got to Ullapool they were married, and he took her
to his house at the place now called Moorfield, where the banker lives
in the present day.
"There was no name on Murdo's son's smack at that time; there were no
roads nor newspapers then; and no one knew where the smack had gone with
Lord Breadalbane's daughter, only that she had left with Murdo's son.
Lord Breadalbane could find out nothing more. He went to the king and
got a law made that from that time every vessel should have a name on
it; there were no names on vessels before then in Scotland. Lord
Breadalbane offered a reward of three hundred pounds to any one who
would find where his daughter had gone. When Murdo's son got the report
of this reward he started off at once, dressed in his best kilt and
plaid, with his dirk in his belt, and walked all the way to Lord
Breadalbane's castle at Taymouth. He knocked at the door, and a man came
and asked what he was wanting; he told him he wanted to see the lord. So
the man went in, and soon the lord came in his slippers to the door. He
asked Murdo's son what was he wanting there. He told him he came to tell
him where his daughter was, that he might get the reward. Says the lord,
'You will get the money if you tell me where she is;' asked him, 'Where
is she?' 'Well,' says Murdo's son, 'I'll tell that when I get the
money.' 'There's your money for you then.' When he got the money, he
said, 'She's at Ullapool, at Loch Broom, and if you will give me other
three hundred pounds I will put the hand of the man that stole her into
your hand.' The lord gave him other three hundred pounds. Says he, 'Keep
out your hand.' 'There,' says he, putting his hand in the lord's hand,
'is the hand that took your daughter from the Island of Luing;' and Lord
Breadalbane was so pleased with his pluck and appearance, that he
accepted him as his son-in-law, and gave him the full tocher (or dowry)
of his daughter. I remember seeing their son and daughter; the daughter
married John Morrison, who was the farmer at Drumchork, about 1850.
"Murdo's son was going in the same smack with herrings from Loch Broom
to sell them. After coming round the Mull of Kintyre he anchored at
Crinan for the night. There was lying there a lugger full of gin and
brandy; she had been captured near Cape Wrath by a government cutter;
the crew had been put ashore at Cape Wrath. Six men of the cutter's crew
were bringing the lugger to deliver her at Greenock. She came alongside
Murdo's son at Crinan, as she was going south and he coming north.
Murdo's son asked them, 'What craft is that?' They told him it was a
smuggler they had caught at Cape Wrath. 'Surely you have plenty drink on
board,' says he. 'Oh, yes,' they said, 'she is choke full.' Says he,
'You had better all of you come over and see if the stuff I have is
better than what you have got.' So they came over, all hands, to his
smack. He tried the jar he had, and made them all drunk. They could not
leave his cabin. When they were in this state he and his crew went to
the lugger, took possession of her, and set sail, leaving her drunken
crew in his own smack. Murdo's son came to Ullapool with the lugger, and
when he had taken the cargo out of her he set fire to her and destroyed
her. A son of Murdo's son was married to Mrs Mackenzie of Kernsary
before Mr Mackenzie married her, and had two sons, both now dead, and
buried in Cil-lean, in Strath Garve.
"Donald Morrison, of Drumchork, was a grandson of Murdo's son and Lord
Breadalbane's daughter. He went to see the Lord Breadalbane of his day,
a descendant of the lord whose daughter was married to Murdo's son. Lord
Breadalbane gave Donald Morrison three hundred pounds when he went to
the castle. Rorie Morrison also went to see Lord Breadalbane, but he did
not get anything. Donald was a very fine, tall, handsome man, and looked
grand in his kilt and plaid; there was no one like him in the country,
so good-looking and so well shaped for the kilt!"
ANECDOTE OF SIR HECTOR MACKENZIE.
"The law that a name should be put on every vessel brings to my mind an
anecdote of Sir Hector Mackenzie of Gairloch. Macleod of Raasay had a
boat that had no name on her when the law was made requiring names. So
the boat was taken from him, and he was cited to a court at Inverness,
that he might be fined for not putting a name on the boat. When Sir
Hector heard of this he went to the court. Macleod was there; the judge
told him he was fined so much for not having the boat named. Sir Hector
said, 'Macleod's boat is the coach to his house, and he can never get
home without it, and if you are going to fine him for not having his
boat named, you must put a name on your own coach when you go out.' Said
the judge, 'If that be the case he can go home.' Thus Macleod got
clear."
MACKENZIE KERNSARY AND MY GRANDFATHER.
"I can remember Mr and Mrs Mackenzie of Kernsary. They lived in the
house where I now live. Rorie, as Mackenzie Kernsary was called, was a
strange eccentric man; he died a good while before his wife, and was
buried in the chapel in the Inverewe burial-ground close by. They had
only one son, Sandy, and it was he who built the house at Inveran; he
was married to a daughter of the Rev. Roderick Morison, minister of
Kintail, the best-looking woman in the north of Scotland at that time;
her nephew is the present minister of Kintail. Sandy had three sons and
three daughters. One son became Established Church minister at Moy; one
daughter married Mr Mactavish, a lawyer in Inverness; another daughter
married one Cameron, a farmer; and another son was at sea. My
grandfather, John Mackenzie, was a cattle drover; he was always going
through the country buying cattle; an old Hielan'man, with his blue
bonnet and old Hielan' coat. He bought cattle between Poolewe and Little
Loch Broom. At times he bought a large number. One time he went to the
Isle of Gruinard and bought a fat grey cow from one Duncan Macgregor
there. He sent a man on with the drove to Gairloch to go to the market,
and stopped behind himself that day. When the cows were passing Londubh,
Mackenzie Kernsary was out on the brae; he saw the cattle passing, and
he asked the man with them to whom did they belong. The man replied, 'To
John Mackenzie, the drover.' 'Oh!' says he, 'they could not belong to a
better man. You'll turn that grey cow up here till I kill her for Mrs
Mackenzie.' 'No,' says the herd, 'that'll no be the case; we'll know
which is the best man first.' 'That tells you that the cow will be
mine,' says Kernsary. And so it was; Mackenzie took the cow from him,
drove her to the byre, got the axe, and killed her in a minute. He went
in and told Mary his wife to send a man to bleed the cow before it would
get cold. So Mary said, 'What cow is it?' 'Never mind,' says he, 'you'll
know that before Saturday.' And so she did. The old drover himself came
by next day. Mrs Mackenzie saw him passing, and called him up. She took
him into the house and gave him a glass of mountain dew. Then she told
him what her husband did yesterday on a grey cow of his, and that she
was going to pay him. She asked him what was the value of the cow. He
replied, 'Nothing but what I paid for it;' and she paid him."
THE WHALE IN LOCH EWE.
"In the year 1809 Loch Ewe was the most famous loch known for haddock.
Boats came even from the east coast, from Nairn and Avoch; indeed until
the following occurrence Loch Ewe was unrivalled in the north of
Scotland for its haddock fishing.
"It was a beautiful day, and all the boats were fishing on the
south-west side of Isle Ewe opposite Inverasdale. A new boat was put off
the stocks at Mellon Charles, and was taken out that day for the first
time. Seven men went out in her, viz., Duncan Mackenzie, Ronald
Mackenzie, Rorie Maclean, Murdo Mackenzie, Donald Maclennan, John
Chisholm, and Hector Macrae, all Mellon men. They went to the back of
Sgeir an Fharaig, much further out towards the open than the other
boats. It was so calm the oars were laid across the boat. Suddenly they
saw a whale coming in from the ocean making straight at them. One of the
men suggested they had better put the oars straight and pull out of her
way. And this they did; but as they worked to one side, the whale cut
across straight after them, and soon came up with them. She struck the
boat in the bow, and made a crack about a yard long in the second plank
above the keel. Six oars were then manned, and, with one man keeping his
coat to the crack, they rowed for their lives; but as the crack was in
the bow, the water forced itself in notwithstanding the efforts of the
man with his coat. They were making for the nearest land, when the boat
filled. When Ronald, who had been a soldier, saw this, he stripped and
jumped overboard to swim for it. He swam some distance when the whale
struck him below; so then he turned back to the water-logged boat. When
he reached the boat, three of the men had been drowned, viz., Murdo
Mackenzie, Donald Maclennan, and John Chisholm. After that the whale
disappeared, or at least ceased to molest them. It was a small whale.
"A man at Mellon Charles had noticed the incident; he ran through the
township to procure help; but no boat was to be found, and there were
only women and children at home. He went as far as Drumchork; there an
old boat was found, that had been turned keel up for two years. Seven
men were found to attempt an expedition for the rescue of the wrecked
fishermen. They had only one oar, and on the other side of the boat
worked bits of board, whilst two of the men were employed baling. In
this way they reached the water-logged boat, and rescued the four
survivors of its crew. Ever since this fatal occurrence it has been the
popular belief in the country that whales attack new boats or
newly-tarred boats. When the boat was got ashore a large piece of the
whale's skin was found in the crack in the bow."
A STORY OF ROB DONN.
"Rob Donn, the great Reay bard, was bard and ground-officer to Mackay
Lord Reay, in the middle of the eighteenth century. He would always be
going out with his gun, and secretly killing deer. Lord Reay found this
out, and sent for Rob. He said, 'I'm hearing, Robert, you are killing my
deer.' 'Oh, no,' says he, 'I am not killing them all, but I am killing
some of them; I cannot deny that.' Lord Reay then said, 'Unless you give
it up, I must put you away out of the place; you must get a security
that you will not kill any more.' 'Oh,' says Rob to him, 'I must go and
see if I can get a surety.' So he left the room. Outside the door he met
Lord Reay's son. 'Will you,' said Rob to the boy, 'become security for
me that I will not kill more deer on your father's property?' 'Yes,'
replied the boy. Rob caught him by the hand and took him to Lord Reay.
'Is that your security, Robert?' said his lordship. 'Yes,' said Robert,
'will you not take him?' 'No, I will not,' answered his lordship. 'It is
very strange,' replied Rob, 'that you will not take your own son as
security for one man, when God took his own Son for all the world's
security.' It need scarcely be added that Rob Donn remained bard and
ground-officer to Lord Reay. This story I believe to be perfectly true."
THE LOCHBROOM HERRING FISHING.
"About ninety years ago the British Fishery Society built the pier at
Ullapool, and the streets of unfinished and unoccupied houses there
which to this day give it the appearance of a deserted town. There were
great herring fisheries then in Lochbroom, and Woodhouse from Liverpool
started a large curing establishment in Isle Martin; so did Rorie
Morrison at Tanera, and Melville at Ullapool. The Big Pool of Loch Broom
was the best place for herrings in Scotland at that time, and there
would be a hundred and fifty ships from all parts to buy herrings
there,--from Saltcoats, Bute, and Helensburgh, Greenock and Port
Bonachie, East Tarbert and West Tarbert. Melville built two ships in
Guisach, which he named the 'Tweed' and the 'Riand.' That place was full
of natural wood at the time; it was in a rocky spot at Aultnaharril,
opposite to Ullapool, where the ferry is. Melville was bound to take the
herrings from all the fishermen's boats. They were so plentiful that he
could not cure them all, so he made middens of them, and he also boiled
quantities for the oil from them. After that season Lochbroom was
nineteen years without a hundred herrings in it, and the fishery has
never recovered to this day."
THE OTHER ROB ROY MACGREGOR.
"Kenneth Mackenzie, the last laird of Dundonnell of the old family, was
descended from the first Lord Mackenzie of Kintail, and was a connection
of the Gairloch Mackenzies. He was a peculiar man; he had a large flock
of hens, and used to make every tenant pay him so many hens at the
Martinmas term along with their rent. My grandfather's brother, Sandy
M'Rae, who was tenant of the Isle of Gruinard, had to pay four hens
every year to the laird. Kenneth Mackenzie, in 1817, married Bella,
daughter of one Donald Roy Macgregor, belonging to Easter Ross; they had
no family. She had a brother called Rob Roy Macgregor, who was a lawyer
in Edinburgh. When Kenneth was on his deathbed his wife and Rob Roy
wanted him to leave the Dundonnell estate to the latter. The dying laird
was willing to do so, because he did not care for his only brother
Thomas Mackenzie; but he was so weak that he could not sign his name to
the will, and it is said that Rob Roy Macgregor held the laird's hand
with the pen, and that the wife was keeping up the hand while Rob Roy
made the signature. The laird died soon after, and left nothing at all
to his brother Thomas. When the will became known there was a great
feeling of indignation among all the Mackenzies and the gentry of the
low country, as well as among the tenantry on the Dundonnell estates,
against Rob Roy Macgregor, who now took up his residence at the old
house of Dundonnell. The whole of the tenantry were opposed to him,
except one man at Badluachrach named Donald Maclean, commonly called
Donald the son of Farquhar. He was the only man that was on Rob Roy's
side. His neighbours made a fire in the bow of his boat in the night
time and burnt a good part of it. He sent the boat to Malcolm Beaton, a
cousin of his own at Poolewe, to repair it; the night after it was
repaired (whilst still at Poolewe) there was a fire put in the stern,
and the other end of her was burnt. The Dundonnell tenants rose against
Rob Roy Macgregor, and procured firearms; they surrounded the house, and
fired through the shutters by which the windows were defended, hoping to
take his life; one ball or slug struck the post of his bed. The next
night he escaped, and never returned again. His barn and his stacks of
hay and corn were burnt, and the manes and tails of his horses were cut
short. Thomas Mackenzie commenced law against Rob Roy Macgregor for the
recovery of the estate. In the end it was decided that it belonged to
him, but it had become so burdened by the law expenses that it had to be
sold."
CASES OF DROWNING IN LOCH MAREE.
"It would be before 1810 that Hector Mackenzie of Sand was living in a
house at Cliff, on the west side of the burn at Cliff House. Sir Hector
Mackenzie of Gairloch had given him lands at Inverasdale. He went up
Loch Maree in a boat to fetch wood to build a house close to the shore
at Inverasdale. He took for a crew his son Sandy, a young lad, and also
William M'Rae from Cove, and William Urquhart, called William Og, and
his son, who lived at Bac Dubh. They reached Kenlochewe and loaded the
boat. Just before they started back, Kenneth Mackenzie, a married man,
and Rorie Mackenzie, a young man, who were returning to Gairloch with
hemp for nets, asked for a passage down the loch. Hector said there was
too much in the boat already. He was not for them to go in the boat, so
they went off; but William Og said to Hector, 'You had better call the
men back; you don't know where they will meet you again.' William Og
called for them to come back. Kenneth Mackenzie came back, but Rorie
would not return; he had taken the refusal amiss, and it was good for
him that he had done so. The boat with the six of them started from the
head of Loch Maree. Opposite Letterewe she was swamped, from being so
heavy. All hands were lost except William M'Rae and Sandy the son of
Hector, they were picked up by a boat from Letterewe.
"Two sons of Lewis M'Iver, of Stornoway, came to Kenlochewe on their way
back from college. It was before the road was made from Gairloch to
Poolewe. They took a boat down Loch Maree. Four Kenlochewe men came with
them; they were all ignorant of sailing. Between Ardlair and the islands
there was a breeze, and they put the sail up. One of the Kenlochewe men
stretched himself upon the middle thwart of the boat; a squall came, and
he went overboard head foremost and was drowned.
"Kenneth Mackenzie from Eilean Horrisdale and Grigor M'Gregor from
Achtercairn were employed sawing at Letterewe. They were put across to
Aird na h' eighaimh, the promontory that runs out from the west shore of
Loch Maree to near Isle Maree, by a boat from Letterewe. One of them had
a whip saw on his shoulder. On landing they started to walk to Gairloch.
There was then no bridge over the river at Talladale. The stream was
swollen by rain; they tried to wade it, but were carried off their legs
and taken down to the loch, where they were drowned. Their bodies were
never recovered. This was more than eighty years ago.
"Donald Maclean from Poolewe and John M'Iver, called John M'Ryrie, and
often known as Bonaparte, from his bravery, were in a sailing boat in
Tagan bay at the head of Loch Maree, when a squall upset the boat. John
M'Ryrie went down, and was drowned. Donald Maclean got on the keel of
the boat. Rorie Mackenzie had a boat on the stocks at Athnanceann. She
had only seven strokes in her, but there was no other boat, so they took
her down to the loch, and Donald Maclean was saved by means of her. John
M'Ryrie's body was recovered, and buried in the Inverewe churchyard.
"It would be about 1840 that Duncan and Kenneth Urquhart, two brothers
from Croft, sons of Kenneth Urquhart the miller, were coming down Loch
Maree one Saturday evening after dark. There was smuggling going on in
the islands at that time. It was a very dark night, and there was a
stiff breeze blowing down the loch and helping to propel the boat.
Duncan was rowing the bow oar, and Kenneth the other. Duncan called to
his brother to go to the stern and steer the boat with his oar. Kenneth
jumped on the seat in the stern, and from the way that was on the boat,
and his own spring, he went over the stern. He called to Duncan, but he
had only the one oar left, and with the wind so strong he could do
nothing for his brother, so Kenneth was drowned. His body was found nine
days afterwards in the middle of Loch Maree; the oar came ashore at a
spot called An Fhridhdhorch, or 'the dark forest,' where the scrubby
wood now is near a mile to the north of Ardlair. Duncan came ashore with
the boat on the beach in Tollie bay.
"When Seaforth bought the Kernsary estate some forty years ago Mrs
M'Intyre was living at Inveran. It was after Duncan Fadach had lived
there. Two years after Seaforth made the purchase he sent two lads to
repair the house at Inveran. One of them was Sandy Mackenzie from
Stornoway. The two lads went to bathe at the rock called Craig an t'
Shabhail, or 'the rock of the barn,' where the river Ewe begins; there
was a barn long ago on the top of this rock. Immediately Sandy entered
the water he went down, and was drowned. The other lad hastened to the
house, and a sort of drag was made with a long stick and a crook at the
end of it, and with this the body was lifted. Sandy was of the stock of
George Mackenzie, second laird of Gruinard, who had thirty-three
children. Sandy's brother is the present Free Church minister of
Kilmorack."
THE STORNOWAY PACKET AND THE WHALE.
"The smack 'North Britain,' Captain Leslie, was carrying the mails
between Poolewe and Stornoway for eighteen years. Leslie had four of a
crew besides himself. Murdo Macdonald was at the helm when the smack
struck a whale. She was running with a two-reefed mainsail and slack
sheet. She ran on the back of the whale and cut it through to the
backbone; seven feet was put out of the cutwater of the packet; it was a
severe stroke! When the smack ran up on to the back of the whale her
stern went under to the companion. The whale sank down, and so the smack
went over her, but made so much water in the hold that they were obliged
to run her ashore. They got her to Bayhead, inside the pier at
Stornoway. The whale went ashore in Assynt, and they found the cut on
her. I had this account from Leslie and others of the crew."
THE WRECK OF M'CALLUM'S SCHOONER AT MELVAIG.
"About 1805 John M'Callum, a decent man from Bute, had a schooner and
carried on a trade in herrings; he had been to Isle Martin. He had one
pound in cash to purchase every barrel of herrings with. The herrings
were so plenty he got them for five shillings a barrel. He had a smack
called the 'Pomona' as well as the schooner, and he would be sending the
smack to Greenock with cargoes of herrings whilst he stayed at Isle
Martin curing herrings. At the end of the season, as there was a great
demand for small vessels, he sold the 'Pomona' for three hundred pounds
to Applecross men. Then he himself started home in the schooner, with a
crew of seven sailors. He came to Portree from Isle Martin, and left
Portree for home, intending to go through Kyleakin. When he got through
the sound of Scalpay it came on a hurricane from the south. The vessel
would not take the helm, and became unmanageable. She was running down
the coast in that state, and at last the wind shifting to the west put
her on the rocks at Melvaig. The mate went to M'Callum, who was in the
cabin, and told him to come up, that they were going to be lost, and he
should try and get ashore. M'Callum was old and weak, and replied that
he was so frail that he would have no chance, and that his days were
gone at any rate; so he remained below. One of the crew went out on the
jib boom, and as she struck he let himself down by a rope from the jib
boom to a shelf on a rock, and was quite safe. Another of the crew
jumped out, but could not get ashore on account of the surf. The Melvaig
people saw him swimming a mile off; then he turned back; he seemed to be
a good swimmer; when he was in the surf and saw a big sea coming, he
would dive through it; at last he disappeared. The ship went to pieces,
and all hands were lost except the man who had got on the shelf of rock.
All the bodies were washed ashore, and were buried in Melvaig, near the
house of Murdo Mackenzie, called Murdo Melvaig. A Melvaig man, named
John Smith, stripped the sea boots from one of the bodies and took them
home with him. When the man who was saved heard this, he said it would
have been enough for him to take them off when he was alive! The man who
came ashore told the Melvaig people that the three hundred pounds
realised for the sale of the 'Pomona,' as well as the balance of the
money the captain had had to buy herrings, was in a box. The captain had
had one pound to buy each barrel of herring, and as he had only to pay
five shillings a barrel he must have had nearly four hundred pounds
balance. The whole of the money was found in a box, as the man had said.
The man went away home, but he did not get the money with him."
A SEA CAPTAIN BURIED IN ISLE EWE.
"About twelve years ago some gentlemen in a steam yacht came to Isle
Martin, and inquired there whether any one knew of a place where the
captain of a ship had been buried in one of the Summer Isles. They
thought he had been buried in one of the small islands off Loch Broom.
They offered fifteen pounds to any one who could inform them, but no one
could tell them anything of the place. Here is the true account of this
captain and his death and burial. It was about 1822 that I was living
with my father in Mellon Charles house. A schooner going to Newcastle
with bars of brass put in for shelter to the sound of Isle Ewe. She lay
opposite the dyke on the island; that is still the safest anchorage, the
best holding ground in a storm. Two of the crew came ashore at Aultbea,
and said the captain had got ill, and they were seeking a doctor; there
was no doctor then in the country. My father used to go and see some who
would be sick, and would bleed them if they would require it. So the two
sailors were told to go to him, and they took him out to the schooner.
He found the captain lying dead in his cabin, and there were cuts in
different parts of his head as if he had been killed by his men. He was
buried in the old churchyard in the Isle of Ewe, still enclosed by a
dyke; there is a headstone yet standing at his grave. No other sea
captain has been buried in this district for many years, except John
M'Callum, John M'Taggart, and this captain buried in Isle Ewe."
THE LOSS OF THE "GLENELG."
"It was about 1825 that the mail-packet called the 'Glenelg of Glenelg'
was lost. A year before that the Right Honourable Stewart Mackenzie, who
had in 1817 married Lady Hood, the representative of the Seaforth family
and proprietrix of the Lews, bought the 'Glenelg' to ply with the mails
between Poolewe and Stornoway. Poolewe is the nearest port on the
mainland to Stornoway. There had been packets on the same service
generations before. The 'Glenelg' was a smack of about sixty tons. Her
crew consisted of two brothers, Donald and John Forbes, and a son of
Kenneth M'Eachainn, of Black Moss (Bac Dubh), now called Moss Bank, at
Poolewe. Donald was the master, and John the mate. She was going to
Stornoway about once every week, but she had not a fixed time. It was on
a Saturday, either the end of November or beginning of December, that
the Rev. Mr Fraser, who was minister of Stornoway, returned to Poolewe
from the low country. He had come down Loch Maree in a boat. The master
of the 'Glenelg' was ashore at the inn, which was then at Cliff House.
Mr Fraser came to Donald Forbes, and told him he would require to be at
Stornoway that evening to preach on the morrow. Donald said it was not
weather to go. Mr Fraser said he would prosecute or punish him for not
going; then Donald said he should take care before he would not punish
himself, and that he knew his business as well as Mr Fraser knew his
own. At last Mr Fraser persuaded him to go; and there were two other
passengers, Murdo M'Iver from Tigh na faoilinn, who was going to be a
Gaelic teacher in a parish near Stornoway, and Kirstie Mackenzie from
Croft. They started about nine o'clock in the morning, with two reefs in
the mainsail. Donald M'Rae from Cove was out on the hill for a creel of
peats and saw the 'Glenelg' loosing some of her canvas after going out
of Loch Ewe. Nothing more was seen of her. M'Iver's box was washed
ashore at Scoraig in Little Loch Broom, and two handspikes and the
fo'scuttle. Another packet was afterwards put on the same service."
WRECK OF THE "HELEN MARIANNE" OF CAMPBELTON.
"John M'Taggart from Campbelton had a smack called the 'Helen Marianne.'
He used to come to Glen Dubh buying herrings, and he had two fishing
boats of his own worked with the smack. I saw him in Glen Dubh when I
was fishing there; it would be about 1850. One Sabbath night he left
Loch Calava at the entrance to Glen Dubh, and set sail for home, thus
breaking the Sabbath. A storm from the north-east came on, and in the
night he struck on the Greenstone Point, at the other side of Oban, or
Opinan, there, and all hands were lost. Donald Mackenzie and Kenneth
Cameron, the elder of the church, both living in Sand, had the grazing
of Priest Island. On the Tuesday they went out to that island to see the
cattle, and there they found the dead body of John McTaggart, along with
an empty barrel. They thought he must have been washed off the deck, as
the vessel had been carried past Priest Island before she was wrecked.
They brought the body to Sand, and buried it in the churchyard with the
rest of the crew, whose bodies were all recovered. There would be six or
seven of them in all, for the crews of the fishing boats were with the
smack, the two boats being on deck, one on each side."
WRECK OF THE "LORD MOLYNEUX" OF LIVERPOOL.
"Farquhar Buidhe, who was one of the Mathesons of Plockton, and brother
of Sandy Matheson the blind fiddler there, was the owner and master of
the trawler 'Lord Molyneux,' a smack he had bought at Liverpool. He used
to come to Glen Dubh for the herring fishery. It was two or three years
before the wreck of the 'Helen Marianne' of Campbelton that Farquhar set
sail for home one Sabbath night. Before daylight he was lost upon a rock
at the end of the island of Oldany. These two ships were both lost from
Sabbath-breaking."
JOHN MACDONALD, THE DROVER OF LOCH MAREE.
"It was about 1825 that John Macdonald lived at Talladale. He was a
cattle drover, and was always known as 'The drover of Loch Maree.' He
was a fine tall man; I remember seeing him. He wore a plaid and trousers
of tartan, and a high hat. He used to go to the Muir of Ord market with
the cattle he bought in Gairloch. At that time large quantities of
smuggled whisky were made in Gairloch and Loch Torridon. John Macdonald
got the loan of an open boat at Gairloch. She was a new boat, with a
seventeen foot keel; I remember seeing her. He worked her round to Loch
Torridon, and then he took a cargo of whisky for Skye. Two Torridon men
accompanied him. A storm came on from the south or south-west, and they
could not make Skye. The boat was driven before the wind till she
reached the shore of Assynt, on the south side of Stoir head. There they
came ashore; the boat was found high and dry, and quite sound, above
high-water mark. John Macdonald and his companions were never seen
again, and some Assynt men said that they had been murdered for their
whisky. Assynt was a wild country then, and long before."
THE MURDER OF GRANT, THE PEDDLER.
"It was about 1829 there lived in a house some three hundred yards above
the present parks at Tournaig a man named Grant. He had three sons,
William and Sandy, and another, who was the youngest, whose Christian
name I forget. He was a peddler, a good-looking lad, about twenty-three
years of age at the time. He used to carry his pack on his back through
the country. He often went to Assynt, and was acquainted with one
M'Leod, who lived near Loch Nidd, to the north of Stoir head. M'Leod was
a kind of teacher; he was a great favourite with the women. Grant, the
peddler, was stopping in a house near M'Leod's, and M'Leod was seeing
him. One morning, after breakfast, Grant left his lodgings to walk
across to Lochinver with his pack on his back. M'Leod joined him, to
convoy him out of the township. When they were out of sight of the
houses M'Leod struck the peddler with a small mason's hammer, which he
had concealed in his breast. He struck him at the back of the ear, and
killed him clean. When M'Leod saw the peddler was dead, he would have
given three worlds to have made him alive again, as he afterwards said;
but it was too late. M'Leod put the body in a small loch, still called
from this circumstance Loch Torr na h' Eiginn, or 'the loch of the mound
of violence,' and he put stones on the body to keep it from floating. A
man in the township had a dream that the peddler had been murdered and
put in this loch, and he went with his neighbours and found the body
there. The neighbours thought this man had killed Grant, because he knew
where the body was. The poor man was apprehended, and taken to the gaol
at Dornoch, where he was kept for a year, and his sufferings caused his
hair to come from his head. He was not set free till M'Leod confessed
the murder. The men of the place were all anxious to find out the
murderer of the peddler, that they might clear their own families.
"M'Leod, soon after the murder, hid the peddler's pack in a stack of
peats. He took part of the goods out of it to give to some of his
sweethearts, of whom he had too many! The girl that was in the house
where Grant had lodged had taken notice of the contents of the pack. She
saw some of the things after the murder with a girl who was a neighbour,
and whom M'Leod was courting. She said to this girl, 'It must have been
you, or some one belonging to you, that killed Grant.' This girl was
taken to Dornoch gaol, and another girl who was seen with a piece of
cloth that had been in Grant's pack was also taken to gaol. The
neighbours were all against each other, trying to discover the murderer.
At last these two girls gave evidence that they had received the things
from M'Leod, and upon their testimony he was found guilty of the murder
before the judge at Inverness. He would not confess to the murder, until
the Rev. Mr Clark, minister of a church in King Street, in Inverness,
who was attending on the condemned man, worked upon him so that he told
the whole truth. It was not until this confession that the man who had
had the dream was released from Dornoch gaol. Poor man, he never got
over it. M'Leod was hung at Inverness, and on the gallows he sang the
fifty-first Psalm in Gaelic. The two brothers of the murdered peddler,
and their sister, who had married a MacPhail, got up a ball at Inverness
on the night M'Leod was hung. It was a foolish thing."
DEATH OF THE SHIELDAIG SHOEMAKER AND HIS COMPANIONS AT LOCHINVER.
"It was long after the murder of Grant, the peddler, in Assynt, that
three men from Shieldaig of Applecross went in their smack to fish with
long lines for cod at Lochinver. One of them was a shoemaker. It is said
that they came ashore to the inn there. After their return to the smack,
three days passed without any smoke from the vessel, and the people on
shore did not know what was the cause of it. So they went to see what
was wrong, and they found the three men dead, two of them among the
barrels in the hold, and one at the hearth in the fo'castle. They came
ashore, and a letter was sent to M'Phee, the fishing-officer at
Shieldaig of Applecross, reporting the case. Three Shieldaig men went
first to Lochinver and brought the vessel home. I saw them as they
passed Poolewe. Some thought that the three fishermen had had poison
given them in the inn. After the disappearance of John Macdonald, the
Loch Maree drover, and his two companions, and the murder of Grant the
peddler, in Assynt, it was considered dangerous for men from Gairloch
and the neighbourhood to visit that wild country."
[Illustration: A GAIRLOCH MAN.]
PART III.
NATURAL HISTORY OF GAIRLOCH.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Physical Features 219
II. Climate and Weather 222
III. Anecdotes and Notes 227
IV. Lower Forms of Life 233
V. Mammals of Gairloch 236
VI. Birds of Gairloch 241
VII. Flowering Plants of Gairloch 256
VIII. Shells of Gairloch. By Rev. John M'Murtrie, M.A. 265
IX. Geology of Loch Maree and Neighbourhood. By William
Jolly, F.G.S., F.R.S.E., &c. 271
X. Minerals of Gairloch. By W. Ivison Macadam, F.C.S. Edin. 289
Chapter I.
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
The accompanying map shews the shape and general features of the parish
of Gairloch.
Its area is stated by the Director of the Ordnance Survey to be 217,849
acres, _i.e._ fully 340 square miles. The three proprietors state the
acreages of their estates (so far as in Gairloch) to be as follows:--
ACRES.
Sir Kenneth S. Mackenzie, Bart. of Gairloch, 162,680
Mrs Liot Bankes of Letterewe and Gruinard, 35,000
Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie of Inverewe, 12,800
These areas make a less total than the Ordnance Survey; the deficiency
may arise from the proprietors having measured their estates on the flat
without reckoning the differences for altitudes.
Fisherfield and Gruinard, in the parish of Loch Broom, adjoin Gairloch
on the north, and Torridon, in the parish of Applecross, on the south.
Both sides of the sea lochs of Gairloch and Loch Ewe, and the south side
of the Bay of Gruinard, often called Loch Gruinard, are in Gairloch.
Between Gairloch and Loch Ewe is the promontory called the North Point,
terminating in Rudha Reidh, or Ru Ré, and between Loch Ewe and Loch
Gruinard the promontory known as the Greenstone Point. The sea-board of
Gairloch parish, indented by these sea lochs and skirting these large
promontories, measures about one hundred miles.
Gairloch is, roughly speaking, bisected by the glen which holds Loch
Maree. This renowned loch has on its north-east side a grand range of
mountains "all in a row," viz., Beinn a Mhuinidh, Slioch, Beinn Lair,
Meall Mheannidh, and Beinn Aridh Charr; the line of these hills is
parallel with Loch Maree.
Further to the north-east is another almost parallel range of mountains,
along which the boundary of the parish of Gairloch runs, in some cases
including the summits. They are Beinn nan Ramh, Meallan Chuaich, Groban,
Beinn Bheag, Mullach Coire Mhic Fhearchair (a spur of Sgurr Ban), Beinn
Tarsuinn, A' Mhaighdean, and Beinn Tarsuinn Chaol, or Craig an Dubh
Loch. There is on the north side of Meallan Chuaich a little knoll
called Torran nan tighearnan, or "the lairds' knoll." Here three
properties--Gairloch, Dundonnell, and an estate of the Mathesons of
Ardross--meet, and the several lairds could lunch together, each sitting
on his own ground.
On the south-west side of the glen of Loch Maree is a cluster of still
finer mountains, viz., Beinn Eighe (or Eay), with its spurs or
shoulders, Sgurr Ban, Ruadh Stac and Sail Mhor, Meall a Ghuibhais, Beinn
a Chearcaill, Beinn an Eoin, Bathais (or Bus) Bheinn, and Beinn Bhreac,
a spur of Beinn Alligin in Torridon. One face of Beinn Dearg is also in
Gairloch, the rest of it being in Torridon. These mountains are grouped
in the form of a crescent, with its convex side facing towards the
centre of Loch Maree. Beinn Eighe is one extremity of the crescent, and
Beinn Bhreac the other, whilst Beinn Dearg lies in the hollow of it.
There are many lochs in Gairloch smaller than Loch Maree, and many
lesser hills, than those I have enumerated. The visitor will best grasp
the geography of Gairloch, by remembering that the long valley beginning
with Glen Dochartie, continued by Loch Maree, and concluded in Loch Ewe,
cuts the parish into two parts by an almost straight line; and that of
the twenty mountains of Gairloch, eight are on its north-eastern
boundary, five on the north-east side of Loch Maree, and seven to the
south-west of the loch. For the heights of the mountains see the table,
which shews Beinn Eighe (Eay) to be the monarch of the mountains of
Gairloch.
There are two considerable sea islands pertaining to the parish of
Gairloch, viz., Longa, in the sea loch of Gairloch, which is now
uninhabited but affords pasturage for sheep, and Isle Ewe, in Loch Ewe,
which is inhabited and contains a sheep and dairy farm. There are other
small islands on the sea coast; the only considerable one is Foura, on
the west side of the mouth of Loch Ewe. It is the largest of the smaller
islands in the sea. Other islands are mentioned in their places.
There are eighty-one considerable fresh-water lochs in the parish of
Gairloch, besides a vast number of smaller sheets of water which, though
locally bearing the name of loch, or lochan, are but tarns.
The lochs measuring a mile and upwards in length are:--
LENGTH IN MILES.
Loch Maree, 12½
Fionn Loch, 5½
Loch Fada, 3¾
Loch a Chroisg (Loch Rosque; one end only), 3¼
Loch a Bheallaich, 2
Loch na h' Oidhche, 1¾
Loch a Bhaid Luachraich, 1½
Loch Fada, 1½
Loch Gharbhaig, 1¼
Loch Kernsary, 1
Loch Tollie, 1
The principal river is the Ewe, by which Loch Maree empties itself into
the sea. It is barely two miles in length. There is but one bridge
across it, viz., at Poolewe, where the river joins the sea. The stream
which runs past Kenlochewe into Loch Maree is called the Kenlochewe
river, and is the main feeder of Loch Maree, and so of course also of
the River Ewe. Above Kenlochewe it has three divisions, viz., the Garbh
river, coming from Loch Clair, the small stream coming down Glen
Dochartie, and the small river Bruachaig. The streams called the Grudidh
Water and the Talladale Water, or Lungard burn, are also feeders of Loch
Maree, and are sometimes termed rivers, but they are scarcely worthy of
the name.
There are two small rivers that flow into Gairloch (the sea loch), viz.,
the Kerry and the Badachro river. The Little Gruinard river, flowing out
of Fionn Loch, forms part of the boundary of the parish towards the east
or north-east. The Kenlochewe and Garbh rivers, and the Ewe, the Kerry,
the Badachro, and the Little Gruinard river, are all more or less salmon
streams.
The most extensive wood in the parish is that of Glas Leitire, near the
head of Loch Maree. Another considerable wood is at Talladale, and there
are woods on most of the islands of Loch Maree. These are all natural
woods, except those on one or two of the islands, one of which is called
"the planted island." At Shieldaig, Kerrisdale, and Flowerdale there are
woods more or less natural, but many of the fine trees about Flowerdale
House have been planted. There are small natural woods about Tollie and
Inveran, at the foot of Loch Maree, and at Kernsary, as well as at Loch
a Druing. There is also a natural wood between Kernsary and Tournaig,
called Coille Aigeascaig. The woods about Inverewe House are entirely
planted. There are some natural woods on the north-east shore of Loch
Maree, especially between Letterewe and Ardlair, at which latter place
there are also plantations. The principal larch plantations are the one
between Slatadale and Talladale, and that in Kerrisdale, both containing
good poles. The old fir trees about Loch Clair and the bridge of
Grudidh, as well as some particularly fine specimens of pine in the
woods at Glas Leitire, are remarkable for their picturesque character,
and testify to the superiority of nature's planting as compared with
man's handiwork.
There are two caves in Gairloch parish, one at Cove and the other at
Sand of Udrigil, used as places of meeting for public worship. There is
a cave or cavern at North Erradale, described in Part IV., chap. x.
There is also a fine cave at Opinan, described in the same chapter. Many
other caves occur on the sea-shore and in other places. Of smaller
caves, the Cave of the King's Son at Ardlair, and the Cave of Gold
between Ardlair and Letterewe, are separately described in these pages.
There are several waterfalls in the parish, but they are not of the
grandest type, and are only really good after a heavy downpour. There is
a fine one on the crag called Bonaid Donn, overlooking the farm of
Tagan, at the head of Loch Maree. This crag is a shoulder of Beinn a'
Mhuinidh, and the fall is called Steall a' Mhuinidh, a name almost
synonymous with that of the celebrated continental Piss-vache. In dry
weather it is little more than a black stain on the face of the cliff,
but in heavy rain it becomes an interesting feature in the landscape. If
a strong wind be blowing, clouds of spray are driven from this fall,
producing a curious effect.
There is a double cascade on the Garavaig burn, a little more than a
mile west from Talladale. It received the name of the Victoria Falls on
the visit of Her Majesty the Queen to Talladale in 1877.
Another good fall is situated a short distance behind Letterewe House,
and forms a beautiful object as seen from the deck of the steamer.
The finest falls in the parish are the falls of the Kerry, situated on
the River Kerry, shortly after it leaves Loch Bad na Sgalaig. If there
be any quantity of water in the little Kerry river, a series of
magnificent cascades tumble down the narrow channel in a deep rocky
gorge. When Sir Kenneth Mackenzie's young plantations on the hill sides
here have grown, they will greatly add to the beauty of the place.
There are two small waterfalls about a mile up the private road leading
east from Flowerdale House.
These are all the waterfalls in Gairloch parish worthy of separate
mention, but it must be added that in heavy rain there are many fine
cascades on steep hill sides, seen from the mail-car or the deck of the
steamer.
The natural features thus enumerated go to make up the principal scenic
beauties of this lovely country, unsurpassed, as I think, for its
combinations of noble mountains, gleaming lochs, wide moorlands, rugged
crags, rocky torrents, and smiling woods, all diversified from hour to
hour according to the spectator's point of view, and the constant
transmutations of sunshine and shade, of calm and storm. With these must
be included distant peeps of the blue mountains of adjoining districts,
and enchanting views from all parts of the coast over the sea, with its
ever-changing hues and effects.
Chapter II.
CLIMATE AND WEATHER.
In the present day the subjects of climate and weather receive
extraordinary attention from numbers who are in search of health.
One of our most eminent physicians has told me, that the North-West
Highlands, especially those parts where mountain and sea air are
combined, possess more restorative qualities for the jaded constitution
than any other part of the United Kingdom, and that they surpass in this
respect many favourite resorts on the continent of Europe. My own
personal inquiry and experience tend to confirm this opinion. Not only
is the atmosphere charged with ozone, but all nature is pure and
refreshing. To the traveller who comes from busy towns where everything
is defiled by smoke and filth, this region possesses a powerful charm in
its absolute purity. Here thirst may be quenched at almost every burn or
loch, and flowers and ferns may be plucked without the fingers of the
gatherer being soiled.
But changeable weather is a frequent drawback to those who cannot wait
for improvement. The rain-fall is believed to be over seventy inches in
the year. The mountains are often covered with clouds. But there is some
compensation; when the clouds break up and the rain is over, wonderful
wreaths of mist roll about the hills and glens in mysterious beauty.
Sir George Steuart Mackenzie of Coul, in his "General Survey" (1810),
has a chapter on the climate. His remarks are quite applicable to the
climate of Gairloch in the present day. He says:--"Our winters are much
milder than those of the continent, but our summers are colder." "In
this country it cannot be said that we enjoy the season of spring until
the portion of the year so denominated has passed. The heat of the
months of July and August is often equal to, and sometimes more
considerable than, the greatest heat experienced in England, but with
more variation between day and night." "When our springs are late, we
are pretty sure of our gardens containing abundance of fruit, and that
the summer heat will be more uniform than usual." "During three-fourths
of the year the wind blows from between the points south-west and
north-west. The heaviest rains proceed from the southward of west. Snow
storms most frequently come from the north-west, but the most severe
ones are from the north-east. During summer the south and south-west
winds are sometimes accompanied by thunder. On the whole the climate of
Ross and Cromarty shires must be considered as moist, but particularly
so in the western districts. The average annual temperature may be
stated for the whole county at 46°. Snow falls in greatest quantity in
the month of February; but severe storms are sometimes experienced at an
earlier period of the winter. It has been remarked that the climate has
been becoming worse for many years. I can answer for the truth of this
since the year 1796; and I judge from the ripening of certain garden
fruits. About that time I had ripe peaches sent to my shooting quarters
from the open wall in the month of August. I have not had them well
ripened since till the middle of September, sometimes later, and often
not at all."
Dr Mackenzie tells us something in his delightful gossipy way of the
old-fashioned summers. He says:--"What long hot summer days we used to
have then compared with the present short lukewarm ones, that no sooner
begin than they end disgracefully in comparison. Astronomers tell us
their registers shew that the present seasons are just the same as in
say 1812. What stuff and nonsense! In those happier times everybody had
summer as well as winter clothing. Who dreams of such extravagance now
in the north? Not a soul, at least of the male animals. Well do I
remember one fine day before we migrated to the west, having gone down
to the river to bathe with my brothers, and dawdling away our time,
naked, making mill dams or dirt pies, on the sandy shore, when putting
on my shirt finding as it were pins inside. On examination there were
several water blisters on my back, needing a pin to empty them, and many
days passed before they were healed up! And I imagine we were all alike.
Who ever hears now of such blistering sun, unless on an extra
thin-skinned, toddy-filled, irritable nose? Then in our eastern garden
the extensive walls were every year coated with apricot, peach, and
nectarine trees, just crusted with loads of as fine and well ripened
fruit as five most healthy stomach-always-empty urchins, who had the
free run of the garden, could eat up as fast as they ripened, aye,
afford often to pelt each other with a half-eaten peach or apricot,
because a wasp had dug into it on its wall side. And where in that
garden, or in my own still warmer one (Eileanach, Inverness), is a
living, growing peach or nectarine wall tree now to be found? Every one
dead for want of sun to ripen its wood ere winter killed it. In our
garden (Conan House) was a standard filbert tree, perhaps twenty-four
feet high, with a stem as thick as my body, every year bearing bushels
of as fine full filberts as Mr Solomon ever exhibited in Covent Garden,
till old John, ruined in mind by having a vinery put up for him about
sixty feet north of the poor filbert, actually cut it down on the sly,
when we were in the west, in the idea that it might possibly shade the
vinery! I never saw my father (Sir Hector Mackenzie of Gairloch) in a
hurry, or passion, or heard him swear, but sure I am when he came on the
site of the filbert, where it was not, a friend would have avoided
listening to his even _sotto-voce_ thoughts on _that_ day. But old John
perhaps only looked forward to the shocking seasons to come, when money
could not discover a ripe common hazel nut, as has been the case for
years now in our nut wood jungles, that used every year to flood the
country with myriads of sacks of nuts, every one full to the bung, in
cartloads at the Beauly markets, and in every town and village,--the nut
crackers being a regular nuisance, paving every street and road and room
with shells for months. The whole people in the country seemed to live
with pockets full of nuts, their price being fabulously low. Nonsense
talking of our temperature now being what it was seventy years ago!
Moreover we used (I believe as a matter of duty) always to be settled in
the west (Gairloch), for the summer, before the 'King's birthday,' June
4th. Is there an idea of loyalty in Britain now resembling the general
adoration of King George the Third in those early times? I don't believe
we really know now what was meant by the loyalty of those old days. Did
the general feudal feeling of those times promote royal loyalty?
Probably it did. Was it the cause of our never failing to have a huge
china bowl after dinner with a pail of 'cream that wad mak a caunle o'
my finger,' to wash down the first strawberries of the season on the 4th
of June? Don't I remember their delicious smell in Flowerdale House, and
their taste too? 'North Carolinas' the gardener called them. And now, in
the same garden (but I deny the same climate utterly), no strawberry
thinks it is called upon to ripen in less than a month later. 'The same
temperature as seventy years ago!' What fools we must be supposed to be
by the rascal astronomers! And we also always had a few Mayduke cherries
to swear by on the 4th of June. Afterwards, was there ever such a mass
of cherries offered, before or since, to five fruity boys, and as
devoted a tutor, as in the Tigh Dige garden (Flowerdale), sheltered from
every cold wind, and held up to the sun, by all that could be desired in
woods and mountains. No, I'm sure; no one can tell me where it defied
five such fruiterers and their equally busy tutor to make such an
impression on the tall crowd of cherry trees in that garden. Our dear
tutor told me, years after, of one thing that was a weight on his mind,
viz., that having dropped one forenoon nine hundred cherry-stones from
his mouth into his worm-fishing bag, he was called away, and prevented
finishing his thousand in one day!"
From March to September the nights are much shorter than in more
southern latitudes. In June and July night may be said to be of only two
hours' duration, and in clear weather those two hours are but a subdued
twilight. A description of a summer evening on Loch Maree is given by Dr
MacCulloch (see Appendix D). Of course in winter the days are shorter
and the nights longer than in England. In autumn and spring grand
displays of the Aurora Borealis, or northern lights, often relieve the
darkness, frequently prognosticating tempestuous weather. Rainbows of
intensest brilliance are frequently seen in Gairloch, and the weird
lunar rainbow is occasionally to be observed. Strange to say fogs are
almost unknown in this humid region; even with a hoar-frost there is no
fog. With a south-east wind and a cloudless sky, the mountain ranges are
often rendered marvellously imposing by a silvery haze, which apparently
enhances their magnitude and adds mystery to their forms.
The winters are not usually severe. Whether from the action of the Gulf
Stream, or owing to the presence of such large masses of water, the
frosts have not, as a rule, the same intensity as in many parts further
south; so that a variety of shrubs and other plants can be grown in the
open air which elsewhere need protection, and many flowers and fruits
are earlier than in less favoured places. Some winters have been so mild
that even geraniums and calceolarias have survived unprotected in the
open ground.
There is a Gaelic proverb which may be translated thus, "If spring mist
should enter the meal-chest, snow will follow." The meaning is, that
when mist is seen in spring, snow always falls soon after. From long
observation I can vouch for the truth of this curious saying. Snow often
falls during the spring months; but the heavy falls of snow are
now-a-days usually in December, January, and February. They are,
however, of comparatively rare occurrence.
When snow comes it gives wonderful glory to the mountains, and even
frost has its peculiar charms. In the exceptionally severe winter of
1880-1, which had only once been surpassed in the experience of the
oldest inhabitants, the ice displayed some of the peculiar forms
described by those who have visited the Arctic circle. On the margin of
Loch Maree (whose waters never wholly freeze), and especially where
streams debouch into it, great hummocks of ice were formed. At the same
time the brackish waters of Loch Ewe became covered with ice floes, of
such extent as actually to prevent the passage of boats which had
started to cross from the west side of the loch to convey persons who
wished to attend sacramental services then being held at Aultbea. It was
the only time I ever saw the sea frozen, and this circumstance, coupled
with the phenomena witnessed on the ice-bound shores of Loch Maree and
the unnatural silence of nature,--whose murmuring streams were frozen
dumb, and whose benumbed birds could give forth no note or song,--really
seemed to transfer one to another world.
Perhaps the best spot in the parish to observe the sunsets is the
Gairloch Hotel. Looking over the bay of Gairloch, no near mountains
obstruct the view, and the aspect in summer and autumn is exactly right.
Beyond the bay of Gairloch itself lies the Minch, and again beyond and
above the Minch are the distant and seemingly transparent hills of Skye.
The scene is as it were framed by the lines of hills on either side of
Gairloch, and in the immediate foreground are strips of yellow sand and
ridges of dark rock. None can tell, none can paint, the glories of the
setting sun; words as well as pigments are powerless to adequately
record the wondrous changes of the splendid colours that gleam in the
sky and clouds, the subtle tints suffused over the sea and distant
hills, and the marvellous glow pervading the whole of the beauteous
scene!
In this mountain land too there are countless varieties of what may be
called cloudscapes; the numerous summits attract and then break up the
cloud masses into rough and fleecy shapes, some thick enough to obstruct
the light, others edged by silvery gleams, and others again brilliant
with the sun shining through them,--the whole exhibiting wonderful
examples of aerial chaos. These broken clouds are most usually seen in
mountain lands; they are quite different from the wreaths of mist
previously spoken of.
Some reference ought to be made here to the colouring of the landscape.
Towards the end of winter, when frosts and snows are done with, much of
the heather assumes an indefinable grey tint, and the bent-grass becomes
a sandy brown. The leafless trees make one thankful for the firs and
hollies with their grateful greens. The larches are the first deciduous
trees to give signs of the coming spring. About the "Day of Our Lady"
they appear tinged with pale green, and in April the birches usually
follow. By the latter part of May all nature has revived, and most of
the trees are in full leaf. The grasses and ferns become brilliant in
June, and the heather is then making a rapid new growth of lovely
velvety shades of colour. From this time until August the hillsides and
moorlands present exquisite phases of green and russet colouring, on
which the eye rests with unwearying pleasure. The artist, who generally
visits the Highlands in the autumn, seldom attempts to depict these
summer effects. He more usually represents the splendid tints of August
and September, when the heather is of every shade of lilac and purple;
when the brackens, broken by winds, are gorgeous with reds, yellows, and
rich browns; and when the bent-grass is magnificent with its radiant
orange hues. The declining year brings fresh glories; all these colours
are now modified and chastened; the rowan trees grow scarlet, the
weeping birches become like fountains of gold, and the oaks a brilliant
brown. Even in winter there are beautiful effects of paler colours;
indeed it is true that there is no season when the landscape does not
delight the eye.
I have long known and loved this country. I have seen it and been
charmed by it in every kind of weather and at every season of the year,
and I have found an ever new delight in its grand yet lovely scenery.
You, my reader, may not have the same opportunity of prolonged
observation, and you may not become possessed of my intense affection
for this region, yet if you linger here awhile, and go about with eyes
and heart open to impressions of beauty and joy, you will soon freely
admit that these descriptions are not mere rhapsody.
Chapter III.
ANECDOTES AND NOTES.
The loneliness and wildness of most parts of Gairloch are of course
highly favourable to the presence and observation of some of the rarer
British birds and animals.
The list of Gairloch birds given further on reveals a curious fact,
viz., that several kinds, such as the house-sparrow, bullfinch,
blackbird, and red-shank, formerly unknown or rare in Gairloch, are now
plentiful; whilst other birds, including the house-martin, skylark, and
whimbrel, formerly abundant, are now scarce. No local causes for these
changes can be suggested. There is no wholesale destruction of the
smaller birds here as in France. What then can be the reason?
Dr Mackenzie has some interesting remarks on this point. Speaking of his
young days (1815-1820) he writes as follows:--
"Now, gentle reader, please explain why, till we were men, no blackbird
was ever heard of in Gairloch,--only heaps of ring-ouzels; not a sparrow
nor a magpie (except one unfortunate who was shot, and report says
cooked as game, at Kerrysdale, and pronounced excellent), no rooks nor
wood-pigeons, tho' plenty blue-rocks, and for many years now these then
strangers have found their way to the west. Indeed blackbirds are now in
crowds there, and have so entirely superseded the ring-ouzel that one of
these is quite a rarity. And please explain also why not only
'When I was young and was werry little,
The only steam came from the kettle,'
but why then no bird ever touched _any_ fruit but cherries, while now no
fruit, ripe or unripe, except black currants, is safe unless netted; the
very pears, not full grown, being all pecked full of holes (or their
mere skeletons hanging on the tree) by the blackbird pests, who, one
might suppose, would die on the spot but for fruit that long ago not one
of them would touch. Till three years ago I never dreamed of netting my
morello cherry-trees. No blackbird till then would look at a morello,
had I offered him £5. Now, unless netted, I need to use them before they
are really ripe, or the black villains will eat them all up.
"When I was young house-swallows were legion. Now they are easily
counted in the north. In our western church (Gairloch) then broken
window-panes were too plenty, and the swallows' operations (building,
feeding, and other arrangements), to the discomfort of those in the pews
below the nests, I suppose I should admit interested us a good deal more
than the preacher. Night-jars also then were very plenty, and one could
hardly take an evening walk without seeing them flit in the dusk and
light on the footpath before us, with their singular cat-purring song. I
have often come on their extra-simple exposed nest in the heather."
The golden or black eagle may frequently be seen in Gairloch, soaring
aloft in the sky. There is a general inclination now to preserve this
noble denizen of the air. The eagle does comparatively little injury to
game, but is accused of killing lambs and even sheep. The golden or
black eagle is a size smaller than the erne or white-tailed eagle, which
latter is also sometimes seen in Gairloch.
There are several Gairloch anecdotes of eagles. On the edge of the wood
at the base of Craig Tollie an eagle pounced upon a roe-deer, and deeply
fixed its talons in the poor beast's side. The roe taking to the wood,
was near crushing the eagle against the trees. The eagle clutched at a
branch with the claws of one foot, still keeping its hold of the roe
with the other foot, but the speed of the roe was so great that the bird
was actually torn in two. One portion was found fixed to the deer, which
died from loss of blood, and the other in the tree.
Doubts have been thrown on the credibility of this anecdote; the
following extract from "Martin's Western Islands of Scotland" helps to
confirm it. Writing about 1695, Martin says:--"The eagles are very
destructive to the fawns and lambs, especially the black eagle, which is
of a lesser size than the other. The natives observe that it fixes its
talons between the deer's horns, and beats its wings constantly about
its eyes, which puts the deer to run continually till it fall into a
ditch, or over a precipice, where it dies, and so becomes a prey to the
cunning hunter. There are at the same time several other eagles of this
kind which fly on both sides of the deer, which fright it extremely, and
contribute much to its more sudden destruction. The foresters, and
several of the natives, assured me that they had seen both sorts of the
eagles kill deer in this manner."
In further confirmation the following paragraph is quoted from "Natural
History Notes from Russian Asia," by A. H. M., which appeared in the
_Field_ of 27th October 1883:--
"The Kirghiz train the grey hawks to catch larks and quails, and showed
me an eagle I could not recognise, assuring me they could train it to
fly at wolves. This bird was a long way off, but it looked to me like
the golden eagle. I was told that, after being kept without sleep or
food for nine days, this bird became quite tame, and would feed from the
hand of the man who had trained it during this period. A strap of stout
leather is fastened round each leg, allowing some ten inches play. When
the wolf is sighted the eagle is flown, and, as soon as it seizes him,
it plants one foot firmly in the wolf's loins, and with the other drags
along the ground, catching at anything that gives a little
hold,--stones, weeds, &c. Should the wolf turn, the eagle drives at his
eyes with its powerful beak, and, the heavy drag on his back causing him
to go slowly, the falconer rides up and settles him with blows from a
heavy whip, or with a knife. This is something like hawking. My driver
swore, by all that was holy, that he himself had killed many wolves with
these 'birghuts,' or small eagles."
The method employed by the eagle of the Kirghiz in dealing with wolves,
appears to be exactly on all fours with that of the eagle attacking the
roe on Craig Tollie.
Mr H. E. Dresser, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c., author of "The Birds of Europe,"
informs me he is sure he has been told that trained eagles are sometimes
breeched, to prevent their being torn asunder. The strap employed by the
Kirghiz seems to be an example of this. Mr Dresser states that Atkinson
("Oriental and Western Siberia," pp. 492-494) gives an account of
trained golden eagles being flown at deer; and M. V. Scully relates
("Stray Feathers," iv., p. 123) that he has seen many such trained
eagles, and he adds that in a wild state they prey on stags, antelopes,
wild-cats, foxes, and wolves. Surely the fate of the unbreeched eagle of
Craig Tollie is not improbable!
The next anecdote is of an eagle near Kenlochewe. This injudicious bird
carried off a cat to feed its two young at its eyrie,--probably on Meall
a' Ghubhais. The cat was alive and well when deposited in the eagle's
nest. Pussy made short work of the two young eagles, and returned home
safe and sound.
The incident is traditional, not only in Gairloch, but also in the
neighbouring districts. I understand that in Assynt and Kintail, as well
as in Gairloch, the following Gaelic riddle is often asked, the answer
being this very anecdote. The riddle is as follows:--"Chaidh biadh do
dithis go ceann Loch Maridhe dhith am biadh dithis thainig am biadh
dhachidh a rhithisd." Here is a literal English translation,--"Some food
went to two at the head of Loch Maree, the food ate the two, and the
food came home again."
Another eagle, not long ago, at Talladale, was seen soaring above a
foal, with the manifest intention of attacking it. The mare watched her
foal with evident anxiety, seemingly prepared to defend her young at all
hazards. The eagle, foiled in his design, took up in his talons a part
of a tree stump, and let it fall, apparently in the hope that it would
strike and kill the foal.
Dr Mackenzie has the following note of a good bag of eagles made in
Gairloch in the early part of the present century. He says:--"Our
game-killer, Watson, had a good day once with eagles, producing three
splendid birds from a day's shooting, besides two young birds also
killed. A pair nested on the west side of Bus Bheinn, and another pair
on its east side, both out of reach, even by rope, although the nests
were visible from tops about eighty to one hundred yards away. Watson,
by daybreak, was on the top of Bus Bheinn, with swan shot in one barrel
and a ball in the other. Peering over the rock, away sailed one of the
eagles, but the swan shot dropped him in the heather below the rock.
Another eagle at the nest at the other side of the hill came to the same
end. Then hiding himself among the rocks, near where a wounded eagle
flapped his wings, a third eagle, coming to see what this meant, was
invited down by a shot, making a brace and a half of old eagles before
breakfast! Then to shorten matters with the two chicken eagles, he
climbed the hill again, and ere his bullets were all used up, both of
them were dead, and their remains were visible on the nests for many a
year after, having got more lead to breakfast than they could digest. I
wait to hear of the gunner in Britain who could shew his two and a half
brace of eagles killed in one day, before breakfast!"
The most numerous and noticeable birds about Loch Maree in the months of
May, June, and July, are the black-backed gulls. They fly with great
speed and apparently little effort. I have often endeavoured, watch in
hand, to estimate the velocity of their flight, and I have come to the
conclusion that in a calm atmosphere, or with a favourable breeze, they
attain the speed of a quick train, viz., nearly fifty miles an hour.
They breed on the islands of Loch Maree, and appear to have almost
displaced the herring gulls, which used to be pretty numerous on the
islands. Very few gulls now breed on Eilean Ruaridh Mor, though it seems
from the following anecdote of Dr Mackenzie's that this island was a
favourite gullery until the incident he relates occurred:--
"Some years ago it was observed that, without any visible reason, the
gulls quite deserted Big Rorie's island for another at a little
distance, till a shepherd, landing with his dog, found a pine-marten-cat
in the island, mere skin and bone, and despatched him. How he had got to
the island, half a mile from the mainland, and the water never frozen,
no one could imagine; but though he may have lived well for a time on
the gulls, there being nothing else to feed him on the island, unless a
chance grouse or a roe, he soon made a desert of it, and would have died
of hunger but for the collie who ended him."
Gairloch is not without examples of very rare birds, but those usually
seen, though rare in many parts of the kingdom, are mostly the common
birds of the Highlands. They are interesting enough to all,--to the
lover of nature they are delightful; let the gunner spare them; let the
bird-nester allow them to rear their young in peace. In the bright
spring-time there is to my mind nothing sweeter than to listen on a calm
evening to the sounds of the various birds that haunt the neighbourhood
of Inveran. You may hear the whirring wings of the wild ducks,
goosanders, and mergansers flitting up and down the Ewe; the
sand-pipers, in great numbers, piping as they hurry along the river
banks; the black-cocks crooning in the adjoining fields; the cock-grouse
crowing on the moors close by; the rooks cawing all around; the
wood-pigeon cooing in the neighbouring woods; the herons screaming on
the margin of the water; the curlews whistling their weird call not far
away; the night-jar humming his prolonged trill below Craig Tollie; the
corncrake uttering its creaking note in the meadows and growing corn;
the owl hooting from his tree or rock; the familiar cuckoo calling on
all sides, near and far; a host of the smaller birds singing, chirping,
and twittering around; whilst above them all the ravens croak, the grey
crows screech, the sea-mews cry, and (sometimes) the wild geese gabble,
high in air.
Observation of this teeming bird life has a wonderful fascination for
many, and I can imagine no purer pleasure. Mr Alexander Cameron in his
song about Tournaig (Part II., chap. xxiii.) notices some of the birds
of Coile Aigeascaig; he must have often enjoyed their exquisite
symphonies.
The insects which frequent the air are not all delightful. Some of the
moths and butterflies, as well as the large dragon-flies (supposed by
many to be the originals of our artificial salmon-flies), are beautiful
enough. These abound more especially on the north-east side of Loch
Maree, where limestone occurs. The flies that sting or bite force
themselves upon our notice, and the tiny midge is the most obnoxious of
them all. Wasps are rather plentiful in some seasons, but the midges are
always in swarms on warm calm evenings from July to October. Even
royalty can claim no immunity from their attacks! Her Majesty the Queen
notes in the diary of her visit to Loch Maree, "the midges are dreadful,
and you cannot stand for a moment without being stung;" and again,
"there is a perfect plague of wasps, and we are obliged to have gauze
nailed down to keep these insects out when the windows are open, which,
as the climate is so hot, they have to be constantly."
A visitor to one of the hotels recorded his opinion of the midges
thus:--
"I love Maree's soft rippling waves;
I love her mountain ridges;
I love her silver birken trees,--
But I detest her midges!"
It is a curious fact that prolonged residence in the country seems to
render one slightly less liable to the attacks of these minute pests;
but when they swarm on a calm evening in September, every one must give
in, and cease all stationary occupation out of doors. Many different
washes for the skin, aromatic and otherwise, are recommended, and some
persons wear veils; but preventive measures are never wholly successful,
and it is best to retreat before the little aggravating foe. How
dreadful must have been the sufferings of the Rev. John Morrison,
minister of Gairloch, when stripped naked, tied to a tree, and exposed
to the attacks of the midges, at Letterewe, as related in Part I., chap.
xvi.! With some people each particular midge bite inflames, and produces
a small lump like a pea under the skin. Total abstinence for the time
from alcohol, or at least from whisky, will generally mitigate this
unpleasant result. If it be a midgy evening, choose if possible an
exposed breezy road for your stroll, and you will escape the creatures.
Fishing is out of the question if it be so calm that the midges are bad.
The stone-flies, gad-flies, or horse-flies, are very troublesome at
times, but can easily be dealt with.
The large caterpillar which is the larva of the fox-moth, is very
abundant on the heather in the shooting season.
The beasts of the earth next claim our attention. Except deer, hares,
rabbits, and (on calm evenings) a few bats near woods or houses, few of
these beasts come under the observation of the ordinary visitor to
Gairloch. Some indeed of the beasts which are considered vermin, such as
badgers, otters, marten-cats, and polecats, are now nearly extinct;
great raids were made upon the two former some years ago for the sake of
their heads and skins, which were and still are much used for sporans to
wear with the kilt.
With respect to martens, Dr Mackenzie says:--"Martens have so fine a
fur, that I remember a lady friend going into a London furrier's shop
with a boa made of martens' skins, trapped by our gamekeeper, and which
the furrier would insist was sable fur! I once shot a marten entangled
in a net spread over a magnum bonum tree on the Flowerdale garden wall,
the gardener being provoked by finding many plumstones on the top of the
wall, and blaming jackdaws for the theft, while the marten was evidently
the thief, his caggie on dissection being well packed with magnums!"
There are plenty of wild-cats in Gairloch, but the majority of them are
domestic cats gone wild, and their offspring. Occasionally specimens of
the true wild-cat are trapped. Here is another anecdote of Dr
Mackenzie's; it tells of a wild-cat having its young in a singular
place:--
"One morning the fox-hunter's dogs picked up a scent behind the Tigh
Dige (Flowerdale) garden, on charming jungly Craig a chait (rock of the
cat), that carried them away over the hills for about five miles to the
side of Loch Tollie, where they lost scent opposite to a mite of an
island, all covered with bushes, about a hundred yards from the shore.
No more scent being found, the dog-master made up his mind it must be an
old cunning fox, whose bedroom the island was. So he stripped and swam
to the island, followed by his dogs; to his and probably their
amazement, they were faced by a monster wild-cat, hardly yet dry from
her swim, who had brought home to her six kittens a nice grouse for
breakfast. They needed no more grouse after that interview. What a deal
of thought pussy must have had ere she could make up her mind to
constant swimming in Loch Tollie till her kittens could leave the
island, as her only chance of saving them from the detested fox-hunter!
Did she reason out the question, or was it mere instinct? Who can tell?"
The lover of the picturesque must admire the shaggy cattle of the breed
now called "Highland," especially those of Mr O. H. Mackenzie of
Inverewe, and of Dr Robertson of Achtercairn. The black-faced lambs are
particularly bonnie when young, but visitors seldom come to Gairloch
early enough to see them. Goats, mostly in a semi-wild state, are kept
on some of the rocky sheep-farms; the idea is that they, being good
climbers and fond of cropping the herbage in steep places, may safely
consume the tender grass in spots where, if left uneaten by goats, it
might tempt the "silly sheep" to destruction.
Some small horses and ponies are bred in Gairloch. A shaggy pony
sometimes adds to the interest of the landscape, or diversifies the
appearance of a shooting party.
Chapter IV.
LOWER FORMS OF LIFE.
The scientist tells us that every drop of water, fresh or salt, and
every portion of the air we breathe, teems with living organisms. The
phosphorescence of the sea is due to infusoria; so also is the
luminosity of footprints on boggy ground. I have often noticed this last
phenomenon when walking behind another man across wet moorland on a dark
night, his footprints being plainly defined by a lambent glow of light.
There can be little doubt but that the notion of the "will o' the wisp"
had its origin in something of this kind.
A few remarks seem to be required with regard to the forms of organic
life in the wide region between the birds and beasts on the one hand,
and those minute organisms on the other hand.
The reptiles of Gairloch are snakes, slow-worms, lizards, frogs, and
toads; the two latter common, the others rarely seen. I have not met
with or heard of any adders in Gairloch. It is said that frogs and toads
were formerly unknown here, as they still are in the Lews.
The only fish that live in fresh water in Gairloch are trout, pike,
eels, and char. Salmon and bull-trout, sea-trout, and finnocks divide
their time between fresh water and salt water. Remarks on these fish
will be found in Part IV., as also some notes on salt-water fish.
There are many shells to be found in both salt and fresh water, all
inhabited or recently inhabited by creatures allied to the fishy
creation. The fresh-water mussel is found in most of the burns and
rivers, and yields a few small pearls to those who undergo the labour of
gathering, opening, and examining a vast number of shells. The
promiscuous gathering of these mussels in Gairloch has almost
exterminated them. Oysters, clams, and cockles have also been nearly
exterminated, and are now protected, though still much poached.
The spout-fish, whose long angular shell--sometimes nine inches in
length--is popularly called the razor-shell, is abundant on all sandy
beaches in Gairloch. It is commonly used for bait at the spring cod
fishing. It is not easily captured. The following is Dr Mackenzie's
account, slightly abridged, of the mode in which the fish can be
taken:--"Go to the sands at the ebb of a spring tide,--always at
Gairloch between twelve and two P.M.,--armed with a small spud and
fishing-basket. Walking backwards close to the edge of the sea, up flies
a spout of water from an inch-wide hole in the wet sand, which instantly
fills it up. Experienced spout-fish catchers in a second have the spud
slanted into the sand a few inches nearer themselves than where the
spout-hole was seen, pushing down till something stops it. Then they
carefully remove the sand above the spud, and uncover the top of the
spout-fish. Do not touch the top of the shell, or you may draw blood.
Scoop the sand away at the side till finger and thumb are able to grip
the shell, and basket it. Take care you do not pull violently, or the
shell may come up without the fish. By repeating this process you may,
if skilled and fortunate, secure a nice basket of spout-fish. The fish,
when properly cleared from sand, make the best of stock for a rich soup
which has peculiarly nutritive qualities."
Sea anemones are abundant on the Gairloch coast. I understand there are
some rare varieties. Will any reader who is knowing about these
beautiful things make us a catalogue of them?
The love of flowers and plants is older than the appreciation of fine
scenery, if we may judge by the poetry of bygone days. Surely the man,
woman, or child who takes no pleasure in the jewels of the vegetable
world is greatly to be pitied. It is sad to find how the introduction of
sheep has diminished the number and variety of Gairloch flowers. Rocky
places, and flat ground near the sea-shore, are commended to the
wandering botanist as localities where good plants may still be found.
Any person who would add to the list given further on of Gairloch plants
would deserve our gratitude. The true lover of flowers will surely
abstain from rooting up anything rare that may be discovered.
Besides what are commonly known as flowering plants, there are numbers
of other forms of vegetable life, including the grasses, mosses,
lichens, seaweeds, fresh-water weeds, and fungi. Complete lists of all
these are wanted.
Of the grasses, the most noticeable is that species of bent-grass which
so abounds on all the moorlands and hill sides, mingling with the
heather, ferns, and flowers. It is this grass which, with its orange
tinge of colour in autumn, gives to hills and moors a rich deep colour
like old gold.
Of the mosses, the deer-grass, or stag's-horn moss, which is the badge
of the Mackenzie clan, is appropriately plentiful in some spots in this
land of the Mackenzies. The club-moss, somewhat similar, is commoner.
The sphagnum-moss is the most noticeable of all; it forms in some places
enormous lumps. I have measured a few lumps four to five feet high, and
with bases six to eight feet in diameter. The sphagnum-moss presents
lovely colouring, varying from deep crimson and rosy red to pale
primrose. The fern-moss is very abundant in and about the margins of all
woods, and is easily distinguished by its beautiful little branches, so
closely resembling the fronds of a fern. There must be hundreds of
different species of moss in Gairloch. A Devonshire botanist told me he
had identified nearly three hundred different mosses in a two days'
ramble in that county. Gairloch cannot be far behind.
Lichens, though so diminutive and slow of growth, give the principal
colouring to most of the rocky parts of Gairloch landscapes. Several
species are still much used in Gairloch in producing red and brown dyes,
into which the wool is dipped before being spun and formed into hose or
tweed. Lichens are a singular class of plant; sometimes they grow on
rocks, sometimes on trees, sometimes on detached pieces of wood,
sometimes on boggy moorland, sometimes on the bare ground, sometimes on
old buildings, sometimes on loose stones, and sometimes on nothing but
themselves. In Dr Lindsay's book on British lichens, it is recorded that
"a curious erratic parmelia was discovered in Dorsetshire by Sir W. C.
Trevelyan, lying loose on the ground, and rolling freely along before
the wind." There may be similar eccentricities of nature in Gairloch.
The following are a few lichens common in Gairloch, mostly named for me
by Dr C. F. Newcombe:--
_Cladonia vermicularis._--The pale greenish grey, almost
white, tubular lichen; growing abundantly on peaty grounds.
_Cladonia pyxidata._--Also grows on the ground; has cups or
stems half inch high, red inside.
_Cladonia rangiferina._--Like vermicularis, but much finer;
almost resembling lace.
_Cladonia digitalis and extensa._--Both have stems like
pyxidata; the former finer, the latter coarser, with scarlet
tops.
_Cladonia cervicornis._--Small antler-like pale greenish
grey or white lichen; growing on the ground.
_Lecidea geographica._--Bright green and black growth on
rocks, scarcely perceptible to the touch; named from the
resemblance to a map.
_Lecidea ferruginea._--A bright rust-coloured stain on
rocks.
_Lecidea sulphurea._--A sulphur-coloured stain on rocks.
_Stereocaulon paschale._--Pale greenish grey in colour;
growing one and a half inch high on rocks.
_Lecanora tartarea subfusca and parella._--Grows on rocks;
one-eighth of an inch thick; pale green, with dark crimson
or blackish spots; the "cudbear" lichen, gathered in the
Highlands and largely exported in the early part of this
century for producing purple and crimson dyes.
_Parmelia saxatilis._--Grey and black with brown spots; much
used in making a brown or brownish-red dye or crottle.
_Parmelia parietina._--Bright orange; flat growth on old
trees and on rocks, especially on the sea-shore; very
noticeable and beautiful.
_Sticta pulmonaria._--On trees, standing out an inch or two
in scales; pale green on surface, brown underneath.
_Parmelia herbacea._--Like the last, but greyer; it grows on
the ground.
_Peltidea canina._--Resembles the two last, but coarser.
_Gyrophora erosa._--On rocks, like a soft black button; up
to two inches in diameter.
_Cornicularia prolixa and cana._--Pendent from trees;
brownish.
Seaweeds grow profusely on Gairloch shores; they are largely used as
manure, and were formerly the source whence kelp was obtained. Some of
the kinds growing in deep water are of brilliant colour; specimens of
these, detached by storms, may often be collected on the beach, and when
pressed are highly decorative. Fresh-water weeds are not so various, but
both classes are well worthy of study.
The fungi of Gairloch include several edible species. Whether edible or
poisonous many of them are very beautiful. There are brilliant scarlet
fungi with orange or white spots; others are purple, yellow,
chestnut-brown, green, pale lilac, cream-coloured, or white. The
following are a few Gairloch species, mostly identified for me by Mr A.
S. Bicknell, a skilled fungologist and daring fungus eater:--
_Agaricus laccatus._--Purple.
_Hydnum repandum._--Buff fungus, without gills; edible.
_Cantharellus cibarius._--Yellow; edible; the "chantarelle."
_Hygrophorus pumicens._--Red, with orange gills; poisonous.
_Russula heterophylla._--White; top variable in colour; edible.
_Amanita muscaria._--Red; poisonous.
_Agaricus muscarius._--Crimson; spotted; poisonous.
_Agaricus phalloides._--White, with pale yellow or green top;
poisonous.
_Boletus edulis._--Umber; white flesh; edible.
_Agaricus campestris._--The common mushroom; edible; only
abundant here at rare intervals.
_Lycoperdon giganteum._--White; the "puff-ball"; edible.
_Agaricus semiglobatus._--Yellowish; poisonous.
_Russula fœtens._--Reddish brown; poisonous.
There are many other fungi and toadstools to be met with in Gairloch,
even by the wayside; they need identification.
These are all my notes on these branches of nature. Of course many forms
of life have been scarcely alluded to; it is even difficult, if not
impossible, for the scientist to define where organised life ceases. The
farther research is carried, the more marvels it reveals. Have we not
here plain indications of the work and design of the Divine Being,
either direct or through the medium of some law of evolution? It may be
commonplace, but it is none the less rational, to believe that for our
enjoyment of nature we are indebted to a benign Providence.
"Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work."
Chapter V.
MAMMALS OF GAIRLOCH.
The mammals found in the parish of Gairloch are, or have been, as
numerous as in any other part of the kingdom. The following list has
been prepared with the assistance of Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie of Inverewe,
and is believed to be complete. I have added an account of the Arctic
fox trapped on the North Point in January 1878, and of some other
captures of the same animal in the Highlands, but of course this cannot
be called a native species. Tradition says that the mountains of
Gairloch were formerly the haunt of numerous wolves, bears, elk, and
reindeer; and there is no doubt these animals were abundant in the
Highlands in the old days.
RED-DEER (_Cervus ellaphus_).--The wild red-deer is abundant on the
mountains of Gairloch, and is the subject of the sport of deer-stalking,
treated of in Part IV., chap. xx., where some information is given
regarding this animal. Its horns have been found deep in peat bogs,
where they had probably lain many centuries, for in one case an antler
was found close to the bronze spear head described in Part I., chap.
xxi., in a peat bog half-way between Tournaig and Inverewe, and the
spear head could not have been in use since remote times. There are few
finer spectacles than a herd of red-deer. In severe weather, in winter
or early spring, this sight may often fall to the lot of the traveller
on the shores of Loch Maree, without leaving the high-road.
ROE-DEER (_Capreolus capræa_).--This pretty little deer is not so
numerous as it used to be in Gairloch, but I have often seen individuals
not far from the high-road near Slatadale, and there are always a few
about Flowerdale and Shieldaig. They frequent woods and adjoining
moorland. Very few are now shot by sportsmen. They are a delicate little
creature, and sometimes die in a hard winter. I have seen specimens
lying dead by the roadside, passing through the Glas Leitire woods.
Possibly the increase of rabbits has tended to reduce the number of
roe-deer, by diminishing their food supply.
FOX (_Vulpes vulgaris_).--The common fox is very abundant in Gairloch,
but is kept down by the keepers on account of the destruction it wreaks
on all kinds of ground and winged game. The fox also kills many lambs,
and sometimes, though rarely, full-grown sheep. It has even been known
to kill the calves of red-deer when very young. The foxes here have
their earths or dens mostly in cairns of rocks and stones. The keepers
will watch one of these dens all night in order to destroy or capture
the old and young foxes. Any that are taken alive (and these are most
usually the young ones) are sent to England to be turned out by masters
of fox-hounds, who generally pay ten shillings a piece for them.
BADGER (_Meles taxus_).--The badger is now nearly extinct in Gairloch,
but is still occasionally met with. Mr John Munro, gamekeeper on the
North Point, told me that one was trapped in Garbh Coire, near Loch Bad
na Sgalaig, in 1874. The badger lives on worms, honey, eggs, and
carrion, but its staple food is grass. It does little harm to game,
unless it destroys a few eggs of grouse. It frequents cairns of stones
like the fox.
OTTER (_Lutra vulgaris_).--The otter was formerly very plentiful, and is
still frequently met with in cairns on the sea-coast of Gairloch and
Loch Ewe and of the island of Longa, but it is not so abundant as it
used to be. When the people found how valuable the skins were they
captured all they could. The skins, like those of the badger, are much
used in making sporans (purses), to be worn with the kilt. The head is
usually mounted as the over-lap of the sporan. Two young otters were
taken in Fionn Loch in 1881, and were sent to the Zoological Gardens,
Regent's Park, London. The otter lives exclusively on fish.
WILD-CAT (_Felis catus_).--The wild-cat is frequently trapped by the
gamekeepers in cairns of rock. It destroys great quantities of game. The
wild-cat is shorter in the legs than the domestic cat. Mr O. H.
Mackenzie has killed a true wild-cat measuring forty-three inches in
length. The wild-cat is about twice the weight of the domestic cat. Many
domestic cats become wild, and adopt the habits of the wild-cat, and
some persons take them for wild-cats. There are also crosses between the
two.
MARTEN-CAT (_Martes abietum_, or _foina_).--The marten is now scarce in
Gairloch. One was trapped in Gairloch in 1877. An old one and several
young ones were killed about the same date in Torridon, on the southern
confines of Gairloch. One was trapped in 1884 at Kerrysdale. It is
generally found in woods or long heather, and was formerly plentiful
hereabouts. Mr O. H. Mackenzie tells me that he once came upon a dead
sheep at the foot of a steep place, down which it had evidently rolled;
beneath the carcass he found a dead marten-cat. He believed it had
attacked and killed the sheep, and the latter in its struggles had
rolled down the hill, and unwittingly been the cause of its destroyer's
death.
POLECAT (_Putorius fœtidus_).--There are a few polecats still
occasionally to be met with in Gairloch, but the beast is scarce. It
used to abound in the woods. In its habits it resembles the weasel.
WEASEL (_Mustela vulgaris_).--This well known animal is very numerous in
this parish. It destroys many rabbits. I have seen it more than once in
the very act of killing a rabbit.
STOAT, or ERMINE (_Mustela erminea_).--The stoat is very numerous and
has the same habits as the weasel, which it closely resembles in
appearance, except that it is rather larger. The stoat generally becomes
snowy white in winter, except the tip of the tail, which remains black.
Numbers of them are imported into Britain from Russia in their white
state, and make the ermine fur used in the royal robes.
ALPINE HARE (_Lepus variablis_).--The Alpine hare is quite distinct from
the common brown hare and the Irish hare. It is commonly called the
"blue hare," but the epithet grey would be more suitable, for in colour
it resembles a common rabbit. It mostly frequents the higher moorlands
and the mountain sides, but is sometimes found on quite low ground.
Towards the end of November its coat becomes nearly or entirely white,
the change being gradually effected, so that sometimes piebald hares may
be seen. In February or March the coat again assumes the grey colour. Mr
John Munro is of opinion that the change to white is the result of a
loss of colour, and involves no actual change of the coat. But he
believes the change from the white to the original grey colour is due to
a complete change of the coat itself,--that in fact the old white wool
of winter comes off, and is replaced by a new grey coat. In support of
this view he states that he has often found quantities of the white wool
on the ground at the time of the spring change, but he never found grey
wool in November. The grey hare has three or even four young in a
litter, and has several litters in the year. Its average weight is from
four to five pounds. I have seen several which weighed seven pounds, but
this is a very uncommon weight. They feed on grass and heather, and even
on lichens and mosses. Their white colour makes them an easy mark for
the gunner when there is no snow on the ground. Some thirty years ago
this hare was almost unknown in Gairloch. Now it is very abundant,
though perhaps less so than a few years back.
BROWN HARE (_Lepus timidus_).--The common brown hare was very numerous
in Gairloch some years ago, but is now comparatively scarce. It is the
same species as the English hare, and is larger and heavier than the
Alpine hare. Sometimes a variety, or supposed variety, occurs, alleged
to be the result of a cross between this species and the Alpine hare.
RABBIT (_Lepus cuniculus_).--The common rabbit was quite unknown in
Gairloch parish until about the year 1850, when it was introduced at
Letterewe. It did not become general for many years after, but is now
common almost everywhere. Occasionally black or white individuals are
met with, probably descended from tame rabbits let loose.
BROWN RAT (_Mus decumanus_).--This obnoxious creature swarms everywhere.
They arrived in this country about 1860. It is said they had been known
before for a short time, but had disappeared.
BLACK RAT (_Mus rattus_).--The old black rat is very scarce. Mr John
Munro tells me that he has seen it near a bothie on a mountain in
Gairloch. It is not such an objectionable beast as the brown rat.
MOUSE (_Mus musculus_).--The common mouse is very abundant everywhere.
WATER RAT, or WATER VOLE (_Arvicola amphibius_).--Mr O. H. Mackenzie
says this rat is not uncommon, though rarely seen.
LONG-TAILED FIELD-MOUSE (_Mus sylvaticus_).--This creature, which is not
a vole but a veritable mouse, is found about gardens in Gairloch, where
it eats the bulbs of the crocus, tulip, &c. Mr O. H. Mackenzie tells me
that he has actually found this mouse (February 1885) inside the house
at Tournaig eating fruit on the shelves.
SHORT-TAILED FIELD-MOUSE (_Arvicola agrestis_).--It is common enough,
and is found in corn-fields.
SHREW (_Corsira vulgaris_).--The common shrew-mouse is quite common.
Cats will not eat them. The shrew lives on worms.
WATER-SHREW (_Crossopus fodiens_).--The pretty little black water-shrew
is not often seen. Mr O. H. Mackenzie gave me a specimen on 13th October
1885.
MOLE (_Talpa Europæa_).--The mole is now very abundant, but was quite
unknown in Gairloch twenty years ago, and no one can tell how it came
here. No doubt the mole does good, but it is very annoying to see a
newly-sown patch of vegetables or flower-seeds destroyed all along the
top of the underground path of the mole.
BAT (_Pleiotus communis_).--The common bat is frequent. Only the common
small kind is found in Gairloch. It is seen near woods and houses on
calm evenings.
SEAL (_Phoca vitulina_).--The common seal is often noticed in Gairloch
and Loch Ewe, especially near the mouths of streams. They do not breed
here.
PORPOISE (_Phocœna communis_).--The porpoise is not uncommon in the sea
lochs of Gairloch. I have known one approach close to Poolewe, at the
head of Loch Ewe, no doubt attracted by shoals of herring which were
then in the loch.
WHALE, SHARK, and GRAMPUS.--Occasionally a whale, shark, or grampus is
observed off the coast of Gairloch.
ARCTIC FOX (_Vulpes lagopus_).--On 30th January 1878 an Arctic fox was
trapped by Mr John Munro, on the edge of a very small sheet of water at
the back of the Bac an Leth-Choin, on the North Point, about two miles
from Rudha Reidh. The remains of several hares had previously been found
with the head and neck eaten off to the shoulders. This fox was a
female, and quite white, and its shape was unmistakeably that of the
true Arctic fox. It was set up by Mr W. A. M'Leay, of Inverness, and is
now in the possession of Mr S. W. Clowes of Norbury, Derbyshire, who has
for many years been a shooting tenant on the Gairloch estate. It is
impossible to determine how this animal, which does not belong to the
British isles, had found its way to the North Point. The following
occurrences of the Arctic fox in the Highlands were narrated to me by Mr
M'Leay, of Inverness:--
An old Gairloch shepherd, who had been a foxhunter in his younger days,
shot an Arctic fox, about 1848, while on a pass before the hounds on the
heights of Monar. There never was a fox known in that district which
made such fearful havoc amongst lambs.
About 1871 an Arctic fox was sent to Mr M'Leay for preservation, for
Lord Abinger. Mr M'Leay inserted a descriptive paragraph in the local
newspapers. In the course of a few days he had a letter from a gentleman
in Peterhead, asking particularly about it, and saying that an Arctic
fox had been given him by the master of a Greenland whaler, which he had
kept chained in his yard for upwards of a year; that six weeks before it
had managed to escape, and though he had advertised offering a good
reward for its recovery, no trace could be got of it. From Mr M'Leay's
description he had no doubt it was his fox. How it had managed to elude
all the keepers, guns, traps, and snares between Peterhead and
Fort-William, a distance of about two hundred miles, was very strange.
Another Arctic fox was shot at Inverness on 14th February 1878, within
three weeks of the capture of the Gairloch specimen. Mr Findlay,
superintendent of Tomnahurich, observed the fox in the cemetery, and
chase being given it was driven down towards the Infirmary. After an
exciting run, the animal was shot in the field at the back of
Tomnahurich Street.
I cannot but suppose that the Arctic foxes of Gairloch and Inverness,
killed so near the same date, had a common origin, but nothing positive
is known of their previous history.
Chapter VI.
BIRDS OF GAIRLOCH.
In compiling the following list and notes I have had the valuable aid of
Mr Osgood H. Mackenzie of Inverewe, who is a life-long ornithologist and
observer of nature. He has spent more of his life in his native country
than perhaps any other Highland gentleman now alive. He has very rarely
been absent even in winter. He allows me to say that he is mainly
responsible for this list. It includes more than one hundred and fifty
species, or supposed species. Our effort has been to make the notes
absolutely accurate, but nesting-places are generally not stated for
obvious reasons. It is earnestly hoped that the information contained in
this chapter will not be made use of by visitors to enable them to
disturb, destroy, or rob any of the interesting birds of Gairloch.
Mr J. A. Harvie Brown, of Dunipace, has kindly placed at my service a
list of birds observed by him in the spring and early summer of 1884 at
Aultbea in Gairloch, at Priest Island off the north-east corner of
Gairloch parish, and at Gruinard on its northern boundary; and this list
is referred to in several cases.
The order and scientific nomenclature are the same as adopted in the
revised edition of "Yarrell's British Birds," by Newton and Saunders.
GOLDEN EAGLE, or BLACK EAGLE (_Aquila chrysaetus_).--This noble bird,
which is slightly smaller than the erne, is not uncommon in Gairloch. I
have seen a pair hovering near the head of Loch Maree, and I have
frequently noticed single birds soaring high in air. One Sunday
afternoon I saw an eagle mobbed by curlews within half-a-mile of
Inveran. It nests in the parish, always on ledges of precipitous rocks.
There is an eyrie on Meall a Ghuibhais. For anecdotes of the golden
eagle see Part III., chap iii. One was trapped on the Inverewe ground,
in February 1885, by Mr John Matheson, who has been gamekeeper at
Inverewe nearly twenty years.
WHITE-TAILED, or SEA EAGLE, or ERNE (_Haliæetus
albicilla_).--Occasionally occurs. A pair formerly nested annually in
Eilean na h' Iolair (Eagle Isle), on Fionn Loch. In 1850 there was a
nest on Beinn Aridh Charr. A fine specimen, trapped on Bathais [Bus]
Bheinn, in 1879, is in the collection at Inveran.
OSPREY, or FISHING EAGLE (_Pandion haliæetus_).--This now rare and very
interesting bird, called by the natives "Allan the fisherman," or "the
fisherman," is occasionally seen. One was observed in Gairloch, about
1880, by Mr John Munro. It is not now known to nest in the parish. There
were formerly three nesting-places in Gairloch,--(1) in Eilean Suainne,
in Loch Maree, on a point nearly opposite Isle Maree; (2) on a fir-tree
on a small island in a loch on Eilean Suainne; and (3) on a stack or
insulated rock in a small loch called Loch an Iasgair (the loch of "the
fisherman"), near the Little Gruinard River. The last nest in any of
these places was about 1852; an osprey was shot from the garden at
Inveran in that year. I have been told of other nesting-places in
Gairloch by old men, who say the osprey used to be abundant in the
parish.
PEREGRINE-FALCON (_Falco peregrinus_).--The peregrine is abundant in
Gairloch. During the spring of 1884 Mr John Munro, who has been
gamekeeper on the North Point since 1865, and is a noted trapper of
vermin, trapped no fewer than eight peregrines on the North Point,
besides what were trapped during the same spring by other keepers in the
parish. There are several nesting-places in Gairloch, all on ledges on
the faces of rocky precipices. If one of a pair preparing to nest be
killed, another bird takes its place within a few days, and even where
both birds have been destroyed another pair has been known to occupy
their nest in a very short time. Though mostly keeping out of gunshot,
the peregrine is sometimes very bold. For instance, in 1883, one swooped
at a hen close to a house in Londubh; it missed its mark, and,
unintentionally no doubt, took a header into a wash-tub, whence it was
taken alive. The peregrine destroys more grouse than any other winged
vermin; it is believed that each bird kills at least one grouse for its
own sustenance every day, and when they have their young, a pair of them
have been known to kill five grouse in one day, so that it has been
truly said that the bag made by each peregrine is at the least equal to
that of one gun on a moor.
MERLIN (_Falco æsalon_).--This pretty little hawk is very common, and
its nests are often taken. It usually nests in long heather on a steep
hillside.
KESTREL (_Falco tinnunculus_).--This universal hawk is as common in
Gairloch as elsewhere. It builds mostly on rocks. It occasionally kills
young grouse, and takes them to its nest. Mr John Munro has actually
shot kestrels whilst carrying young grouse in their claws to their
young. Mr Harvie Brown has observed similar freaks on the part of the
kestrel, but he does not think the defect is generically constitutional.
SPARROW-HAWK (_Accipiter nisus_).--The sparrow-hawk is common. It nests
in trees. I have seen several nests. The female sparrow-hawk resembles
the male peregrine both in size and plumage. In all birds of prey the
female is larger than the male, whilst in other birds the reverse is
usually the case. The sparrow-hawk kills young grouse, and has been seen
by Mr John Munro pecking at an old grouse which was still warm, and had
probably been killed by it.
KITE, or GLEAD (_Milvus ictinus_).--Was formerly common in Gairloch, but
has not been observed for many years. Strychnine was on one occasion put
into the dead body of a horse, and the result was that a large number of
kites were (intentionally) poisoned. This would be about 1825; kites
were then very numerous here, and even destroyed poultry. The Gaelic
name is Clabhan gobhlach nan cearc, or "fork [tailed] buzzard of the
hens."
BUZZARD (_Buteo vulgaris_).--This bird, which closely resembles the
golden eagle, but is much smaller, is common, but seldom breeds in
Gairloch. It used to nest in Craig Tollie. It is not so destructive to
game as some of the lesser hawks.
HEN-HARRIER (_Circus cyaneus_).--This hawk is tolerably common, but is
not known to nest in Gairloch. When out grouse shooting one day I saw a
hen-harrier strike and kill a grouse just beyond gunshot. I gathered the
grouse, but the harrier escaped.
TAWNY OWL, or BROWN OWL (_Strix aluco_).--This owl is common, and breeds
in Gairloch. They seem to frequent woods and rocks, and at night their
loud wailing hoot or howl is often heard. I believe they are harmless as
regards game.
LONG-EARED OWL (_Asio otus_).--This bird occurs, but is not common. It
is a migrant, and does not breed here.
SHORT-EARED OWL (_Asio accipitrinus_).--This owl is not uncommon in
Gairloch. It is a migrant, and comes with the woodcock. It is not known
to breed in Gairloch. Mr O. H. Mackenzie once shot five over setters in
the Isle of Ewe in the month of November.
WHITE OWL, or BARN OWL (_Aluco flammeus_).--This owl is also common, and
here generally nests in cracks in rocks.
SPOTTED FLYCATCHER (_Muscicapa grisola_).--Common. It nests near houses.
I have seen its nest at Inveran (1885). Both Mr O. H. Mackenzie and Mr
Harvie Brown have noticed several pairs in Gairloch parish.
GOLDEN ORIOLE (_Oriolus galbula_).--This splendid bird is very rare
here. Mr O. H. Mackenzie, and a friend with him, saw one at Coile
Aigeascaig on 25th May 1884. One was shot in the garden at Mungasdale
(the farm of Gruinard) about 1870. This place is within three miles of
the northern boundary of Gairloch.
DIPPER, or WATER OUZEL (_Cinclus aquaticus_).--Very common on all rivers
and burns, and on the margins of lochs. It is called in Gaelic Gobha
dubh an uisge, or "the water blacksmith." I have seen several of its
remarkable nests behind small waterfalls, or on rocks overhanging
running water. It is one of the first of the small birds to build its
nest. On 31st January 1879, and on several days before and after that
day, I saw an immense number of dippers on the river Ewe. I counted
nearly a hundred within a length of a mile. They were of the ordinary
brown-breasted kind. Two of them are in my collection, and other two (I
believe) in the national collection. I can offer no explanation of this
unusual gathering. It is interesting to watch this active little bird
diving in running water. It is now acquitted of the charge formerly made
against it of eating the ova of fish. It lives on water insects and
their larvæ.
MISTLETOE THRUSH, or STORM-COCK (_Turdus viscivorus_).--This bird occurs
in Gairloch, though not commonly. Mr O. H. Mackenzie saw a nest in a
rock at Inverewe recently. He unmistakably identified the birds and the
eggs. The storm-cock used to be abundant in Gairloch, and built
generally in oak trees.
SONG-THRUSH, or MAVIS (_Turdus musicus_).--Very common. It nests in
trees, bushes, and tall heather. Mr Reid, of Isle Ewe, says that the
mavis builds in walls there for lack of trees. Some years ago Mr O. H.
Mackenzie killed one with a ring round its neck, such as the ring-ouzel
has. This anomalous specimen may be seen at Inverewe.
REDWING (_Turdus iliacus_).--Common. It has been known to remain in
Gairloch all summer, making it probable that it breeds here.
FIELDFARE (_Turdus pilaris_).--Common. A migrant. Not known to nest
here.
BLACKBIRD (_Turdus merula_).--Common enough now, but it is said to have
been formerly unknown in Gairloch.
RING-OUZEL (_Turdus torquatus_).--Common, and, like the mavis and
blackbird, very destructive to fruit. I often see a number about my
cherrytrees in the garden at Inveran.
DUNNOCK, or HEDGE-SPARROW (_Accentor modularis_).--Common, especially
near houses.
REDBREAST, or ROBIN (_Erithacus rubecula_).--Common everywhere, and at
all seasons.
REDSTART (_Ruticilla phœnicurus_).--Rather common. Both Mr O. H.
Mackenzie and I have often seen it, and Mr Harvie Brown noted it as seen
at Gruinard in 1884.
STONECHAT (_Saxicola rubicola)_.--Fairly common. It nests early. Mr
Harvie Brown saw it at Aultbea in 1884, more abundantly than the
whinchat.
WHINCHAT (_Saxicola rubetra_).--Abundant. Mr Harvie Brown noted it as
"common" at Strath na Sealg in 1884, and Mr O. H. Mackenzie and I have
often seen it in Gairloch.
WHEATEAR (_Saxicola œnanthe_).--Very common. It arrives about the end of
March or the beginning of April, and nests mostly amongst stones.
SEDGE WARBLER (_Acrocephalus schœnobænus_).--Occurs. Not common.
BLACKCAP (_Sylvia atricapilla_).--This bird is not common, but occurs.
WILLOW WREN, or WARBLER (_Phylloscopus trochilus_).--Frequent. Mr Harvie
Brown found it common at Gruinard in 1884.
CHIFF CHAFF (_Phylloscopus collybita_).--Common. Seldom seen, but often
heard. It is a migrant.
GOLDCREST, or GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN (_Regulus cristatus_).--Very common. I
found one in the house at Inveran one evening, and have often seen
flocks in the larches close by.
WREN (_Troglodytes parvulus_).--Common everywhere all the year round.
CREEPER, or TREE-CREEPER (_Certhia familiaris_).--The creeper is
tolerably common. I have often seen it creeping or almost running up the
side of the house at Inveran, pressing its tail against the wall after
its manner.
BLUE TITMOUSE, or TOM-TIT (_Parus cæruleus_).--Very common, but not so
much seen as the coal-titmouse.
COAL-TITMOUSE (_Parus ater_).--This spry little bird is very common, and
is seen at all seasons of the year; often in large flocks, frequently in
company with the long-tailed titmouse.
LONG-TAILED TITMOUSE, or BOTTLE-TIT (_Acredula caudata_).--This tiny
bird is abundant.
PIED WAGTAIL, or WATER WAGTAIL (_Motacilla lugubris_).--Very common.
Like the other wagtails, it is a summer visitor; it arrives in the end
of March.
WHITE WAGTAIL (_Motacilla alba_).--This bird visits Gairloch. I have
seen at least two pairs on the River Ewe in most years. An
ornithological friend shot two specimens near Poolewe bridge some years
ago, and identified them as being undoubtedly the white wagtail of
Yarrell.
GREY WAGTAIL (_Motacilla sulphurea_).--This beautiful bird is tolerably
common here. On 30th July 1886 I obtained at Inveran a singular variety
of this wagtail; it was a young bird in nestling feathers, but strong on
the wing, of a white and fawn colour intermixed,--not an albino.
MEADOW-PIPIT, or TITLARK (_Anthus pratensis_).--This is one of the
commonest birds in Gairloch.
ROCK-PIPIT (_Anthus obscurus_).--The rock-pipit is frequent here. Mr
Harvie Brown noted it as common at Gruinard in 1884.
SKYLARK, or LAVROCK (_Alauda arvensis_).--The skylark is not common now.
It used to be so, and no reason can be given for the falling off in its
numbers. Mr Harvie Brown observed it at Aultbea in 1884.
SNOW BUNTING, or SNOW FLECK (_Plectrophanes nivalis_).--This pretty bird
is common, and is frequently seen in large flocks in winter. It is
believed to breed on the higher hills, but there is no evidence that its
nests have ever been found in Gairloch. Donald Fraser, the old forester
at Fannich, who had been head tod-hunter to the old Duke of Sutherland,
told Mr O. H. Mackenzie about thirty years ago that he had often seen
the nests of the snow bunting under flags on the top of the Scuir Mor of
Fannich. On the same mountain Mr O. H. Mackenzie saw (about 1858)
several broods of snow buntings flitting about when deerstalking there.
The young birds were in nestling plumage.
BUNTING, or COMMON BUNTING (_Emberiza miliaria_).--The common bunting,
which is rare in some parts of Britain, is abundant in Gairloch, and is
with us all the year round. I shot a cream-coloured bunting at
Inverasdale some years ago; it is in my collection at Inveran.
YELLOW BUNTING, or YELLOW-HAMMER (_Emberiza citrinella_).--This bunting
is very common; it is one of the tamest of wild birds.
BLACK-HEADED BUNTING (_Euspiza melanocephala_).--This peculiar-looking
bird is common here. I have seen their nests.
CHAFFINCH, or SPINK (_Fringilla cœlebs_).--The chaffinch is perhaps the
most commonly seen bird in Gairloch.
MOUNTAIN FINCH, or BRAMBLING (_Fringilla montifringilla_).--The
brambling is rarely seen here. Mr O. H. Mackenzie once shot one out of a
flock of chaffinches in Gairloch. He saw more at the time.
HOUSE-SPARROW (_Passer domesticus_).--The house-sparrow used to be
unknown in Gairloch. It is said to have first come to the Free Manse at
Aultbea or to Isle Ewe in the mail-packet from Stornoway. This was about
1852. Mr Harvie Brown noticed it at Aultbea in 1884. It is now pretty
common where it can find nesting-places about houses. It often builds in
trees close to houses, if it can get no better place.
GREENFINCH, or GREEN LINNET (_Coccothraustes chloris_).--Common, but not
known to breed.
GOLDFINCH (_Carduelis elegans_).--Mr O. H. Mackenzie shot several at
Charleston many years ago. It has not been observed latterly.
SISKIN, or ABERDEVINE (_Carduelis spinus_).--Not common, but sometimes
seen in flocks in late autumn. It is a migrant.
REDPOLL, or LESSER REDPOLL (_Linota rufescens_).--Common. Seen in
flocks.
LINNET, or GREY LINTIE (_Linota cannabina_).--I am not positive that I
have seen this bird in Gairloch parish, and Mr O. H. Mackenzie has never
observed it. Mr Harvie Brown saw it in the adjoining parish of Loch
Broom in 1884, and I think it only right to include it in the list of
Gairloch birds.
TWITE, or HEATHER LINTIE (_Linota flavirostris_).--Common, especially
near the sea-shore. Mr Harvie Brown noted it as seen at Aultbea in the
summer of 1884.
BULLFINCH (_Pyrrhula Europæa_).--This handsome bird is quite common now,
and destroys the young fruit of plum trees, and the fruit buds of
gooseberry bushes, so that gardeners wage war against it. Mr O. H.
Mackenzie says it was unknown in Gairloch about thirty years ago.
CROSSBILL (_Loxia curvirostra_).--Not common, but occurs. Mr O. H.
Mackenzie shot three out of a large flock, in a larch tree close to the
house at Inveran, about 1851.
STARLING (_Sturnus vulgaris_).--Very common in places. For want of old
trees it builds in heaps of stones and old walls; and in the island of
Foura, at the mouth of Loch Ewe, it uses holes in the ground for its
nest, along with the stormy petrel.
ROSE-COLOURED STARLING, or PASTOR (_Pastor roseus_).--This rare bird
probably occurs here. One was shot at Torridon about 1880, so close to
the southern confines of Gairloch parish as to justify my mentioning it
in this list. It is in Mr Darroch's possession at Torridon; it is a
beautiful specimen in mature plumage.
CHOUGH, or REDLEGGED CROW (_Pyrrhocorax graculus_).--This bird is rare
indeed. Mr O. H. Mackenzie saw one at Tournaig in the summer of 1883,
the only instance he knows.
RAVEN (_Corvus corax_).--The raven is very common here, and has many
favourite nesting-places, all in crags. It is the earliest bird to build
its nest. The raven is very voracious; it lives mostly on carrion, but
destroys the eggs of grouse and other game birds.
HOODED CROW, or GREY CROW (_Corvus cornix_).--The hoodie is very common.
It nests in trees and sometimes in rocks. It destroys many eggs of game
birds. Mr O. H. Mackenzie has not observed the black or carrion crow
(the kindred species) here.
ROOK (_Corvus frugilegus_).--The rook is common, but is not so abundant
as it used to be. After the breeding season all the rooks in the
district gather each evening in one large flock, and roost every night
from the end of October to the end of March in the fir wood on the River
Ewe, a little below Inveran. During the rest of the year not one is to
be seen at this place, for they are engaged elsewhere with their nests
and young. There are now at least three rookeries in the parish, viz.,
at the burial-ground at Culinellan near Kenlochewe, at the Poolewe
manse, and on the crannog or artificial island on Loch Kernsary.
Formerly there was no rookery in Gairloch. The rook destroys eggs. Mr O.
H. Mackenzie has caught rooks in the very act of demolishing hens' and
partridges' eggs.
DAW, or JACKDAW (_Corvus monedula_).--The jackdaw is occasionally seen
in winter, but it does not breed in Gairloch, at least not in the
present day.
PIE, or MAGPIE (_Pica rustica_).--The magpie is now unknown in Gairloch,
but Mr O. H. Mackenzie says that in the early part of the century, as
old people tell him, numbers of magpies lived in the fir wood which then
covered the knoll at the back of Srondubh house.
SWALLOW (_Hirundo rustica_).--Occurs, but is not common. I caught one in
the house at Inveran on a summer evening in full plumage, with the
brilliant red colour about the head.
MARTIN, or HOUSE-MARTIN (_Chelidon urbica_).--Is not common now, though
it used to be. Within a few years I have seen several martins' nests in
the windows of Poolewe church. Mr O. H. Mackenzie remembers when they
nested in hundreds on the face of the "Black rock," at the east end of
the range of Craig Tollie.
SAND-MARTIN (_Cotile riparia_).--Very common. Burrows its nest in almost
every gravel or sand pit which has a high bank.
SWIFT (_Cypselus apus_).--Occurs occasionally, but is not numerous. It
is not known to breed in Gairloch.
NIGHT-JAR (_Caprimulgus Europæus_).--Several pairs of the night-jar
visit the parish of Gairloch annually to breed. I have many a time heard
their singular note or jar, like the hum of a winnowing machine,
resounding under the shade of Craig Tollie on a summer evening. Mr
Harvie Brown heard and saw night-jars at Gruinard in 1884. This curious
bird nests on the ground under heather. I have seen a night-jar in the
garden at Inveran.
CUCKOO (_Cuculus canorus_).--The cuckoo arrives in great numbers near
the end of April, and until the middle of June the whole country
resounds with its calls. I first saw the cuckoo this year (1885) on 23rd
April. I do not think it is more abundant in any other part of the
kingdom. It lays its egg mostly in the nests of the meadow-pipit. In
July the cuckoos take their departure, but I have seen young ones as
late as the middle of August. I have noticed three cuckoos at one time
in my little garden at Inveran. They seem to be fond of gooseberries.
KINGFISHER (_Alcedo ispida_).--This most brilliant of all native birds
is almost unknown in Gairloch. I have never seen it here. Mr O. H.
Mackenzie has seen one on the River Ewe, and one on the River Kerry;
both these occurrences were some years ago.
RING DOVE, WOOD-PIGEON, or CUSHAT (_Columba palumbus_).--A few
wood-pigeons are here all the year round, and breed in the parish. I
have seen their nests in tall trees.
ROCK DOVE (_Columba livia_).--The blue-rock is very abundant, and
inhabits caves and fissures in the rocks all along the coast line of
Gairloch. It is here seldom found far inland. Mr Harvie Brown, however,
says that it is found inland above the head of Little Lochbroom. I have
noticed several variations in its plumage, some birds being mottled, and
others very pale in colour. It is the parent of, and closely resembles,
the common domesticated blue pigeon. It is excellent eating.
TURTLE DOVE (_Turtur communis_).--Very rare. One was shot on the glebe
at Gairloch in 1880 by Mr W. B. Mackenzie, a son of the minister of
Gairloch, who brought it to me for identification. It was consorting
with golden plover in a turnip field. It was a bird of the year.
BLACK GROUSE, or BLACK GAME (_Tetrao tetrix_).--Black game are fairly
abundant about Gairloch, but they wander a good deal, and sometimes the
sportsman is disappointed in his search for them. They are polygamous,
and it is important to keep down the cocks, otherwise the black cocks
may become numerous out of proportion to the grey hens. They say the
best proportion is one black cock to three grey hens.
RED GROUSE (_Lagopus Scoticus_).--The grouse is abundant on all the
moorlands of Gairloch, but its numbers in any season are liable to be
greatly affected by wet or cold weather at the time of hatching. Many
early broods are lost, and consequently there is no lack of "cheepers"
on the "Twelfth." Disease occasionally appears; it is certainly not due
to over-stocking. The grouse is monogamous. The cocks generally exceed
the hens in number. It is very beneficial to a moor to kill off the
unmated cocks. The grouse in the Highlands are slightly smaller than
those on English and Irish moors.
PTARMIGAN (_Lagopus mutus_).--Common on the mountain tops, where it
breeds. It seldom visits lower regions, but one was shot on the North
Point some years ago in tempestuous weather, at an elevation of not more
than seven hundred feet above the sea-level; and another was shot on
Isle Ewe by Mr O. H. Mackenzie, many years ago, on a top not more than a
hundred feet above the sea.
PHEASANT (_Phasianus colchicus_).--Introduced some years ago at
Shieldaig, probably about 1860. It is now pretty common, and sometimes
wanders away from the coverts where it has been bred.
PARTRIDGE (_Perdix cinerea_).--The partridge is fairly common in
Gairloch, but is never very abundant, owing to wet breeding seasons and
the number of rooks and domestic cats.
RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE (_Caccabis rufa_).--Introduced some years ago, but
now believed to be extinct.
QUAIL (_Coturnix communis_).--Very rare. Mr O. H. Mackenzie shot one in
Isle Ewe about 1860. It may be seen at Inverewe.
LAND-RAIL, or CORN-CRAKE (_Crex pratensis_).--Now rather rare. It used
to be very abundant in grass or corn.
WATER-RAIL (_Rallus aquaticus_).--This bird is occasionally found in
Gairloch.
MOOR-HEN, or WATER-HEN (_Gallinula chloropus_).--Common. I have
frequently seen it feeding with my ducks at the end of the garden at
Inveran abutting on the River Ewe.
DOTTEREL (_Eudromias morinellus_).--Very rare. Donald Fraser, an old
forester at Fannich, who was a keen and accurate observer of birds, told
Mr O. H. Mackenzie that the dotterel formerly bred on Beinn Bheag, near
Kenlochewe. It is called in Gaelic Feadag chuirn, or "cairn-plover."
RINGED PLOVER, or RING DOTTEREL (_Ægialitis hiaticula_).--Abundant on
all the sandy shores on the coast of Gairloch. I have seen it also on
the shore of Loch Maree, at Slatadale, in the breeding season. It is
called in Gaelic Tarmachan na tainne, or "the ptarmigan of the waves."