58 STUDIES OF NATURE 



sound, made up no doubt of many sounds the 

 fall of streams, the sough of the wind, the 

 calling of wild birds and of other creatures, 

 but reaching the ear more like a human cry 

 than anything else. The North Glen, through 

 which we go this morning, is of an entirely 

 different character. It is soft, and sometimes 

 melancholy the South Glen is too stern to be 

 melancholy the hills on either side are rounded 

 rather than craggy, and there is no precipitous 

 termination, but only a gradual acclivity, over 

 which the road passes at a height of eight or 

 nine hundred feet, and then descends into 

 another glen that of Chalmadale. In the 

 bright sunlight of to-day, however, and with 

 such a blithe company round us, it is by no 

 means melancholy. Flowers are all about ; the 

 speedwell lingering still, the blue harebell 

 swinging on its slender stem, the willow-herb, 

 and the heather the last, a glorious sight, 

 bursting just now into full bloom and so 



