October in Lairig Gkru 



I passed the first snow near the Pools of Dee. Even at 

 this height — and the path here approaches the 3,000-foot 

 level — the air was mild, for the steep face of Sron na Lairige 

 sheltered the pass from the strong breeze. Snow wreaths lay 

 around the Pools of Dee, and in the pools themselves there 

 floated remnants of snow and ice. Some of the hill ferns — 

 protected from the frosts by their covering of snow — were 

 still green, and the grasses here were indeed more green than 

 in the glen below. The leaves of many blaeberry plants lay 

 scattered on the surface of the snow — for, unlike the cran- 

 berry, the blaeberry is one of the most sensitive of hill plants 

 to a sudden frost — ^and through the snow there led a well- 

 marked track, where stags had been crossing from Mar to 

 Rothiemurchus in the quest for hinds. 



I had reached the summit of the Lairig without encounter- 

 ing a single ptarmigan, but when just on the watershed a 

 cock "tarmachan " rose -from the hillside above me and flew 

 at a considerable height and with zig-zagging flight, across 

 the pass, alighting carefully on a snowfield. Through the 

 glass I could make out his plumage to be in the transition 

 stage, but with the white feathers of the winter dress pre- 

 dominating. I felt confident, by the flight of the bird, that I 

 was not the cause of his alarm, and sure enough, on looking 

 round, I spied the hereditary enemy of the ptarmigan — the 

 golden eagle. Sailing leisurely through the Lairig the great 

 bird fvassed right over the spot where the ptarmigan was 

 crouching — seemingly without noticing him — before crossing 

 the pass and making towards Cairngorm. 



A few minutes later a covey of some six or seven ptar- 

 migan came flying wildly from the direction in which the 

 eagle had disappeared. A second time the eagle beat up 

 the pass, and I thought I heard him call shrilly once before 

 he sailed up into a mist-filled corrie and was lost to view in 

 the mantle of cloud. 



A last backward glance showed Cairn Toul and the Devil's 

 Point very dark against the sun-flecked sky, and away to the 



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