LOCH ASSYXT. 23 



its summit forms a singularly shaped cliff, round which I 

 have generally seen one or two golden eagles soaring with 

 strong and majestic flight. 



At Loch Assynt, on a peninsula (once an island, and now 

 occasionally so), there are ruins of an old castle. On the 

 summit of the highest part of the wall is an immense pile of 

 weather-beaten and bleached sticks, which two years ago 

 formed an osprey's nest, but, unluckily, this most interesting 

 bird has been killed or driven from its picturesque and 

 exposed dwelling-place. Nothing could be more characteristic 

 of the bird than this nest, perched on the highest corner of 

 the ruin, overhanging the broad lake, which abounds with 

 trout of all sizes. The Salmo ferox, or great lake trout, is 

 more plentiful in Loch Assynt than in most Highland lakes. 

 A short distance above the inn at Inchnadamph a spring 

 rises from the limestone rocks which it is worth travelling 

 from London to see. Direct from the ground bubbles up this 

 spring with such power and abundance that it at once forms 

 a goodly-sized brook of the most pure and transparent water 

 that can be imagined. The smallest trout or the smallest 

 pebbles are seen as clearly in its deepest pools as if no water 

 intervened. So bright and clear are the streams flowing out 

 of limestone, that they have rather the effect that a good 

 glass has on a picture than that of making objects indistinct. 



"We started from Inchnadamph inn in good time in the 

 morning, intending to reach Scowrie, about twenty-one miles 

 distant ; but the road being very hilly, and a ferry inter- 

 vening, we had to reckon on many hours of travelling before 

 we reached our night's quarters. I walked on to look at the 

 osprey's nest on the old castle, and an interesting sight it is, 

 though I lamented the absence of the birds. Why the poor 

 osprey should be persecuted I know not, as it is quite harm- 

 less, living wholly on fish, of which every one knows that 

 there is too great an abundance in this country for the most 

 rigid preserver to grudge this picturesque bird his share. 

 The fact probably is that his skin is worth something to 

 keepers and others, as they can always get a few shillings 

 for it, and therefore the bird is doomed to destruction. The 

 " auri sacra fames " will soon put an end to his race in this 

 country. 



In the midst of a steep and tolerably high water-fall, 

 perched on a small piece of projecting rock, and surrounded 

 by the dashing water, I saw one of my favourite birds, the 



