32 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. III. 



brown. As we came away we still observed the 

 male bird unceasingly calling and seeking for his 

 hen. I was really sorry that I had shot her. 



This excursion to the lake hindered us so long- 

 that, after resting our horse at Ehiconnich, we 

 did not reach Durness till late at night. 



From Scowrie to Durness, particularly about 

 Ehiconnich, the road winds through a constant 

 succession of the most rocky, rugged, and wild glens 

 that it is possible to imagine, with here and there 

 beautiful sheets of water, deep, and darkly shaded 

 by the overhanging rocks, and occasionally by small 

 birch-woods. Winding round near the mouth of 

 the Laxford river, we saw an osprey fishing in, or 

 rather over, the pools near the bay. I am told that 

 the Laxford is one of the best, if not quite the best, 

 sea-trout stream in the North. There are gloriously 

 wild and rocky mountains rising from the landward 

 side of the road, with the most fantastic and pic- 

 turesque outlines. The bay at Ehiconnich, too, is 

 very beautiful. The whole road, indeed, commands 

 one constant and endless succession of scenery 

 equally magnificent and wild ; nor does the tra- 

 veller drive a mile throughout this journey without 

 some new and most interesting view — varied, too, 

 as it is by rock, water, and mountain, by the rich 

 brown of the heather, the vivid green of the birch- 



