LOCH C RE RAN. 



simple and natural little epitaph, " Since I "am so early 

 done for, I wonder what I was begun for ? " and not a 

 single swallow in Benderloch to answer the pertinent 

 question ! 



With what charming readiness mankind throws names, 

 and sticks to them persistently ! One class of mind is 

 foolish because it differs from ours, and all manifestations 

 of intellect out of the accepted groove are ignored, when 

 they are not stigmatised as mechanical. Thus we have 

 come to talk without further consideration of the mental 

 action of animals as instinct, although we might probably 

 with equal reason treat the ordinary intellectual displays 

 of average humanity as similarly mechanical. Yet seldom 

 can one pass a day without noting little deviations from 

 the ordinary course of life among birds and beasts, that 

 can only be accounted for by intelligent adaptation. A 

 little dog that plays presistently and harmoniously with a 

 half-grown kitten, worrying and teasing it to an amusing 

 extent in a neighbour's parlour, shows how surroundings 

 and upbringing eradicate a supposed instinct on the part 

 of the dog ; while the fact that the cat will hunt the 

 doggie all about in order to have a romp with it, speaks 

 to equal alteration of mechanical aversion into sensible 

 regard. In similar lines ran our thoughts as we tramped 

 along the road in the rain, and scarcely glanced at the 

 dreary moorland alongside. As we came down upon 

 the loch the dull hue of the ploughed land was here and 

 there marked with the darker specks where the rooks were 

 busy ; but what was our surprise to note, a hundred 

 yards from the water, carefully hunting the same ploughed 

 land, a large flight of a bird livelier alike in colour and in 

 action ! A flock of oyster-catchers were busy, along with 

 the rooks, well away from the water side. We had thought, 



