TWO MONTHS AT SPEYSIDE 171 



separated, I hastening on to try the upper water in greedy- 

 hopes of more sport, while CharHe strode off down stream 

 with every muscle of his back set rigid in disgust. For the 

 rest of that day both of us " wrought sair hard," but not 

 another rise did we get, and Sandy told me in the evening, 

 with a twinkle in his eye, he had had a " terrible time with 

 Muster Onions." 



The weather now turned bitterly cold ; snow and hail fell 

 during the day, sharp frosts ruled the night, while we fished 

 for a whole week without getting anything except a few kelts. 

 So severe was the cold that one day when on my way to 

 the top of the water I came across a curlew crouched almost 

 alongside an oyster- catcher, both so frozen that they could but 

 flutter along the ground in front of us. The two birds were 

 within twenty yards of each other, under a sand-bank by the 

 water's edge. Having caught them, I sat down and placed 

 them under my waistcoat, one on each side of me, where 

 they quietly remained to enjoy the warmth, only showing 

 any sign of fear by the throbbing of their bright eyes. I 

 then soaked some bread-crumbs in whiskey, and down the 

 throat of each bird I poked some of this mixture. 



The warmth of my body coupled with the strength of the 

 strange dose soon told a tale, and in the course of a quarter of 

 an hour each bird was enabled to fly strongly away. During 

 all this process, curious to relate, neither of these very wild, 

 shy birds struggled to escape, while as a fact in natural history 

 it can be stated that the curlew was much more averse to 

 whiskey than the oyster-catcher. 



We had also a further instance of how severe the night 

 frosts were, for when the next Sabbath came round we 

 passed a good part of that day in hunting for plovers' eggs, 

 and on this frosty Sunday we had picked up some five dozen, 

 which we carefully boiled for ourselves ; but, alas ! at Monday 

 morning's breakfast they all went "pop," and splashed over our 

 fingers as soon as the shell was broken, so we quickly realised 



