Field Meltings, 111 



luent was made to the house, where a wealth of interesting' 

 objects claimed attention. There is a very complete and finely- 

 mounted collection of native birds, with a few rarer visitants — 

 including' the Pied Fly-Catcher and the American White- Winged 

 (Jross-bill ; among many other specimens, the Night-Jar ; the 

 King Fisher ; the Water Rail, Tufted Duck, the Goosander, which 

 frequents the valley in large numbers ; and a few birds shot 

 further afield, one being a fine Capercailzie, from Perthshire, which 

 weighed 11 lbs. The family possess an extensive tract of cattle 

 ranching and timber land in Manitoba, and in the rigorous north 

 of Canada they have liad good opportunities for indulging at once 

 a sportsmanlike instinct and a taste for natural history. Quite 

 recently Mr Henry had undertaken a long canoe expedition up the 

 Great Slave Lake, to the remote stations of the Hudson Bay 

 Company, in connection with i-eported discoveries of gold, which, 

 however, turned out to be disappointing. Among- the trophies of 

 the chase which adorn the walls are two magnificent heads of the 

 Moose, with its great flat horns ; masks of the large and fierce 

 Timber Wolf from Alberta and of the smaller fox-like Prairie 

 Wolf ; such notable birds of the colony as the Snowy Owl, the 

 Eagle Owl, the Goshawk; and hoof of the Carriboo. There is also 

 in the collection a fossilised tine of the antler of the Wapiti Deer, 

 from the Rocky Mountains. Collections of butterflies and moths, 

 both British and Canadian, and samples of West African avifauna 

 further enhance the interest of the museum ; and there are in it 

 not a few objects of antiquarian interest. One of these is a piece 

 of oak carved with the date 1689 and the initials " D M " •' I K," 

 being those of David Martin of Braco and his wife, Jeane Kar. 

 David was a stout old Covenanter, who fought at Bothwell Brig, 

 and, having the good fortune to escape unhiurt, remained in hiding- 

 in the moors and mountains until the Revolution. He had 

 possessed some skill of handicraft, and himself carved this heirloom. 

 Of more recent interest were one of the 1-lb. shells of the Vickers- 

 Maxim, the " Pom- Pom " of the Boer campaign, which has had 

 such a disturbing effect on the troops, and a set of the last coinage 

 of the Transvaal, both gold and silver, with the image and super 

 scription of Paul Kruger. Into the outer wall of Dardarroch 

 House are built several carved stones that have come from an 

 older building. One of these bears the arras of the Cunninghams, 

 Earls of Glencairn, the Y-shaped shakefork. and the initials '• I C." 



