180 MY LIFE AS A NATURALIST 



up to Morecambe Bay, not forgetting leafy Lytham and noisy 

 Blackpool, have also claimed my attention. Off Lytham I have 

 watched large companies of seabirds dabbling in the mud, among 

 which I specially remember a Cormorant (Fig. 75), whose clever 

 exploits at catching fish I have never seen surpassed. 



I have seen large Salmon from the window of the Bluebell 

 Hotel at Annan, near Dumfries, in the river after which this 

 pleasant Scotch town is named, and which is fed from the Moffat 

 Hills, near Ecclefechan, the birthplace of Carlyle. Opposite 

 the hotel, was the Academy at which the great man went to 

 school, now a solicitor's office. A saunter to the Solway Firth 

 from this point is linked up with happy associations, and around 

 several inland Lochs between Dumfries and Glasgow I have 

 searched for birds, plants, and stray trout. 



The rocky Ayrshire coast, from Colmonell in the south to 

 Wemyss Bay in the north, with rugged Ailsa Craig standing out 

 like a grim sentinel in the Clyde, has also been visited by me 

 during holidays of yore. 



FIG. 76. TERX ix FLIGHT. 



In the lovely Island of Arran some of my most treasured 

 experiences as a Naturalist have been obtained. Its coast, 

 glens, burns, moors, hills, and mountains, have fascinated my 

 nature soul to a degree that is inexpressible. I have seen the 



