58 TOUR IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE. 



where I was told that char are very plentiful. All the lochs 

 abound in excellent trout. 



We reached Khiconnich, a tolerable inn, but certainly not 

 so well kept as many others in Sutherlandshire, at eleven 

 o'clock, and immediately started for a lake some two or three 

 miles off, where the osprey was said to build. The way to it 

 was far too rocky and steep to take the boat, so we only took 

 my swimming belt, as Dunbar offered to swim out to the 

 nest, if not too far from the shore. We had a very rough 

 walk of the longest two miles that I ever met with. Our 

 route was over a continuous range of rocky ground so 

 broken that we seldom found a Hat place to put our feet on. 

 We did not find the right lake immediately, but at last saw 

 from a height a larger piece of water than any we had 

 hitherto passed, and at some two hundred yards from the 

 shore there was the conical-shaped rock, which the osprey 

 always seems to choose for her nesting-place. 



On examining the rock with the glass we immediately saw 

 the nest, and the white head of the bird in the middle of it. 

 Our troubles were instantly forgotten, and although rather 

 fagged before, we made our way over the rocks with new- 

 found vigour. The unwillingness of the old bird to leave the 

 nest showed that she had young ones. While Dunbar pre- 

 pared to take the water, I went round to watch for a shot at 

 the old bird. I presently saw nothing but my fellow- 

 traveller's head, as he swam gallantly out to the rock : the 

 old osprey Hew in wide circles round and round, at a con- 

 siderable height, screaming loudly at the unexpected intrusion 

 on her domain ; sometimes she swooped half-way down to 

 the water, but still cautiously keeping at a safe distance. 

 Before many minutes had elapsed we saw the male bird 

 sailing high in the air, straight to the loch ; on hearing the 

 cries of his mate he seemed to quicken his flight, and soon 

 joined her, carrying a trout in his talons. The two birds 

 then sailed round and round the water with loud cries. 

 When they saw Dunbar perched on their hitherto unassailed 

 rock, and looking like a statue on a pedestal, their excitement 

 beca'me greater and greater ; the male dropped his trout, and 

 they both dashed wildly to and fro, sometimes at a great 

 height and sometimes taking a rapid circuit of the lake, 

 within half a gun-shot of the water. The next thing I saw 

 was my adventurous companion striking out for the shore, 

 with his cap in his teeth. In the nest he found a half-grown 



