372 Round about the Northern Cliffs. [Sess. 



down periodically to dredge for specimens. A steani-launcli, 

 besides small boats, are kept for their use, and a man in their 

 employ lives constantly on the rock to look after their interests. 

 This, you will acknowledge, is working up natural history 

 on a grand scale. In winter the feathered fauna receive large 

 accessions to their numbers, chiefly in the shape of marine 

 species, such as divers, ducks, geese, sandpipers, &c. ; but hav- 

 ing regard to the length this paper has already assumed, I 

 shall not detain you longer, but conclude with the remark that 

 while the district, ornithologically speaking, is a rich one, it is 

 matter of regret that it has been found impossible, with the 

 limited time at my disposal, to do even the scantiest justice to 

 the numerous interestino- fauna that have made it their home. 



IX.— ROUND ABOUT THE NORTHERN CLIFFS. 



By Mr JOHN SUTHERLAND. 



{Read March 26, 1S90.) 



Eeaders of Dr Smiles's delightful biography, ' Eobert Dick, 

 Geologist and Botanist,' need not be told that the mainland 

 of the extreme North affords a " happy hunting-ground " for 

 the scientific observer, whether his studies deal with the 

 transformations and inhabitants of the world in remote ages, 

 or with its aspects as seen to-day. Caithness is particularly 

 rich in botany and animal life, especially birds ; while its 

 pavements, said to be marked with the footprints of pre- 

 historic man, floor a great part of the civilised globe. Thurso, 

 the centre of this industry, is further distinguished by leading 

 the way in the emancipation of women, as here one of the 

 sex beards the ravenous lion, man, in her own if not in his 

 den — she is a barber ! For rod-fishing the river is one of the 

 best in Scotland, an angler being known to catch as many as 

 twenty-one salmon in a single day. There is a ruined castle 

 on each side of the town, which stands on a bay hemmed in 

 by precipitous cliffs that terminate in the bluff promontories 

 of Holburn and Dunnet Heads. The sea sometimes rages 

 with such terrific fury on the coast that spray is sent flying 



