354 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



(Emberiza nivatis), the king-fisher (Alcedo ispida), the siskin 

 (Fringilla spinus), and the goat-sucker (Caprimulgus Euro- 



pCBUS). 



With the ornithology of this portion of Ross-shire, I link the 

 recollection of coming across a brood of young woodcocks, four in 

 number, one of which, with the assistance of a Newfoundland 

 dog, which had stumbled upon them at the edge of a plantation 

 near Craig Darroch, I secured, not, however, until it had been 

 stripped of a quantity of its plumage, and was so injured in other 

 respects as to warrant me depriving it of life. This happened 

 in the month of July. The bird captured was full-feathered, 

 and in such plump condition that I had no hesitation in per- 

 forming upon it, when /roasted, with knife and fork. On the 

 banks of the Blackwater, I flushed another woodcock a 

 day or two after ; and have been led to understand that the 

 circumstance of the Scolopax rusticola taking up its summer 

 abode in this and other parts of Ross-shire is not an unusual 

 one. 



Among the quadrupeds belonging to the district under notice, 

 may be mentioned the five species of Mustelidce native to Scot- 

 land, viz., the otter, the polecat, the marten, the stoat or ermine, 

 and the weasel. From the animal first mentioned the river 

 Conon derives its name ; and as to the prevalence of stoats and 

 weasels, there were stories afloat, when I resided in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Contin, which described them as periodically arrang- 

 ing themselves into packs or gangs, in which state of combina- 

 tion, they now and then had the audacity to attack the ' human 

 form divine.' For such relations there was no doubt some 

 ground. I was incredulous of them for a while, and might have 

 remained so until the present day, had not an incident occurred, 

 five or six years ago, which removed to a certain extent my 

 scepticism on that point. Immediately subtending the railway 

 bridge which crosses Teviot near the village of Roxburgh, a via- 



