150 AUTUMNS ON THE SPEY. 



quarry near the river. A few sand martins flying 

 overhead induced me to believe that I should find 

 some excavations of this species in the face of the 

 prevalent strata. All these, however different 

 in texture and composition from the loose half 

 solidified conglomerates and harder deposits, to 

 the hands of fine friable sandstone and indurated 

 layers of the same substance with which they 

 alternated were more or less coloured by red 

 oxide of iron, and not one of them was pierced 

 by the martin, but nearer the summit of the cliff 

 a horizontal shallow belt of yellow sandstone 

 a comparatively recent formation extended for 

 several yards, exhibiting a single row of perfora- 

 tions nearly equidistant from each other, like the 

 portholes of a gun-brig. 



Of the many indigenous birds unjustly pro- 

 scribed and gradually diminishing in number, 

 the water ouzel, or dipper, Chiclus aquaticus, 

 appears to me to be the most flagrant example, 

 and I gladly avail myself of this opportunity of 

 recording my belief that he is not only an injured 

 innocent but an ill-used benefactor. For ages he 

 has been condemned as a supposed dcvourer of 

 trout and salmon spawn, but I am convinced that 

 such a charge has no more foundation in truth 

 than the once popular fables of cows and goats 



