78 LOCH C RERAN. 



For the gale, probably driving before it a stretch of gravel 

 when the water was shallow over the beds, had nipped 

 the points of whole stretches of these mussels, of course 

 destroying them utterly, as they not only lay exposed to 

 the driving sand and small gravel that soon silted in and 

 choked the already sadly bruised mollusc, but they were 

 thrown open to the restless, oyster catcher, now delighted 

 to have an open feast without wearing down still further 

 their hard bills. 



The rapidity with which the cold weather has painted 

 the landscape is more like a transformation scene in a 

 pantomine. Our walk through the thinning woods last 

 Sunday was almost overpowering in the lavish wealth of 

 colouring. The rich blue of the hills, with the sunlight 

 gleaming over them, and hiding in the richer light the 

 scattered patches of snow ; the dark waves, as the terrific 

 squalls swept down the glens and whipped the dark sea 

 into white waters, swirling the gay leaves in myriads 

 before them as they crossed the charming " water-colour 

 exhibition " between the hill-side and the shore ; the 

 dark, stern silver firs, erect yet swaying amid the nodding 

 and crouching foliage of the birch and other deciduous 

 trees, presented a succession of scenes as exquisitely 

 beautiful as the mind could conceive. How often do 

 we say still, as we have already said, you who come to 

 the " somber north " cannot have the wildest conception 

 of the lavish beauty of Bonnie Scotland, until you see 

 her in the Queen of Months, when she holds her drawing- 

 room on the mountain side, or in the woodland glade, 

 and gathers the beauty and fashion of her gay world 

 " for a few days only," to dazzle the beholder with the 

 splendour of her court. 



That hillside has been a source of delight to many a 



