1868] A Day in Glen Callater. 207 



delight. Trientalis europaea, Linnsea borealis, Juncus 

 balticus, and other prizes of the north, were quickly added 

 to his collection. The ptarmigan in their mottled summer 

 dress, so like the grey granite of their environment, pre- 

 sented one of the prettiest studies in protective colour. A 

 long day spent in the vicinity of Loch Callater was perhaps 

 the most enjoyable of all. Having walked to " Break-neck 

 Fall," as the cascade at the head of Glen Callater is named, 

 " there (says the journal of his companion) we performed 

 wonderful climbing feats, and got a great number of rare 

 and new plants. We lunched at a giddy height, and then 

 mounted higher still, almost to the head of the Fall, to 

 botanize, Alexander being particularly anxious I should 

 see and gather for myself some beautiful plants of the 

 Holly Fern. We descended again to the little stream that 

 runs out of Loch Kander, and among some broken debris 

 and loose stones found an abundance of P. Lonchitis in 

 rare luxuriance, the fronds being as large as some we saw 

 at the Griessbach last year/' Then they went on up the 

 stream to Loch Kander, a " little deep dark lake " at the 

 base of Lochnagar ; and here, while exploring likely nooks 

 for Polypodium alpestre, saw two magnificent eagles 

 wheeling above the precipitous cliffs. Great was the ex- 

 citement when one of the birds was seen to drop a feather. 

 With an eager scramble, he gained the spot where he had 

 marked it fall, and laid a triumphant hand upon the 

 trophy for the moment nearly as great a prize as a new 

 alpine plant. 



Thanks to the liberality of Professor Dickie, of Aber- 

 deen, who accompanied some of his excursions, he 

 brought back to Ireland for the Museum a specimen of the 

 very rare deep-sea Coral, Oculina prolifera, of which it 

 was said that only four other specimens existed in Britain: 

 one in the British Museum, one in the Aberdeen College 

 Museum, one in the Botanical Department at Marischal 

 College, and one in Dr. Dickie's private collection. 



