296 FIELD AND FERN. 



best of every thing for Christmas ; and locust beans, 

 oilcake, and ground corn were among their side- 

 dishes. 



From them we wend our way, and bless Duke 

 John for the shade of his larches, down towards Glen 

 Fender or the Black Knoll, the pass between Fender 

 and Glentilt. There is land of every kind, heather 

 and pasture, in that famous Glen; and blackfaces 

 hold all the east side, where it is green, from the 

 top to the bottom. The cows were grazing oppo- 

 site Black Knoll, whose sides are dotted with roans 

 and whites of two crosses at least, from the Muir 

 of Ord or Amulvie. Below is a dell of ashes, in- 

 terspersed with the sallow green copses of mountain 

 birch ; but, as our guide tells us, " the worm with the 

 red head works away on the leaves, and does them 

 fair out." 



An old doddy looks on apart, while the red 

 Newcastle Emily is driven up from the brae. The 

 dun Proisaig Odhar, which was second at Stirling, 

 can hardly boast of such a black bull- calf as 

 that which has " sair suckit" Breadalbane Queen, 

 the first in her class at Kelso. A broken horn marks 

 and gives the name to a fine quartered brindle, 

 and the silver sheen or white dun claims close kin- 

 dred with Poltalloch's prize Stirling cow Newrack. 

 A dun with a blind eye is not one of the worst, 

 as she draws up to Rosie, the first at Kelso and gold 

 medalist at Stirling, but with this one drawback, 

 that her young Donald is " a wee thing white." Then 



