1896-97-] Birds of Kintail, Ross-shire. 225 



may help to indicate the nature of the country inhabited by 

 the feathered fauna about to be mentioned. The four par- 

 ishes embraced in the locality are Kintail, Glenshiel, Glenelg, 

 and Lochalsh, — the last, as the name denotes, lying along the 

 shore of that arm of the sea. Not far from the village of 

 Dornie, Loch Alsh divides into two other lochs, called respec- 

 tively Lochs Duich and Long, the former being wide, and 

 terminating at the base of a most magnificent range of moun- 

 tains, conical in shape, known as the " Sisters of Kintail," and 

 averaging about 3700 feet in height; the latter, again, being 

 narrow and sinuous, running inland for about six miles close 

 to a place called Killelan, where, as the name implies, a reli- 

 gious house of some kind must have existed in bygone days, 

 although no trace of it seems to be left at the present time. 

 Along the sides of all these lochs are scattered numerous 

 crofting and fishing clachans, the more important of which 

 are Dornie, Ardelve, Bundalloch, Letterfearn, and Sallachy. 

 The scenery is of the wildest and most romantic type, Kintail 

 in particular being about the most splendid piece of landscape 

 of which the Western Highlands can boast, and that is saying 

 a good deal. Prior to the disappearance of the herrings from 

 Loch Duich many years ago, Dornie was a thriving fishing- 

 station ; but owing to the loss of that industry it has, in com- 

 mon with the other townships, retrograded sadly, consequently 

 many of the inhabitants are excessively poor, and there is a 

 lack of suitable employment for them, — the soil, save in a 

 few isolated instances, being thin, and very unremunerative 

 to cultivate. Smuggling in the old days was rather a profit- 

 able business ; but of late years whisky-stills are few and far 

 between, the preventive staff having by energetic measures 

 rooted out the most of them. The bulk of the property now 

 belongs to Sir Kenneth Matheson, but formerly was a posses- 

 sion of the Mackenzies of Seaforth, whose ancient and ruined 

 stronghold, Castle Donan, still stands upon a rocky eminence, 

 which at high tide becomes an island, within a few hundred 

 yards of Dornie. In some parts, for instance about Balma- 

 carra and Inverinate, there is a considerable quantity of wood, 

 but in most districts trees are sparse, and scattered in irregu- 

 lar patches along the hillsides, so that the variety of the 

 smaller sylvan fauna is not great ; but the shores afford good 



