THE SALMON. 191 



at the Keith of Blairgowrie, upon the Ericht, in Perth- 

 shire. Both these places have many charms for the 

 naturalist and the lover of nature. They are the first 

 passes into the mountains ; the scenery around is pecu- 

 liarly fine ; and plants and animals are very abundant. 

 The rocks by the very margin of the stream are in some 

 places of stupendous elevation, while their bases are 

 shaded, and even their beetling tops crowned with native 

 timber, rich in foliage and vigorous in growth. They 

 are, in fact, zoological and botanical gardens of nature's 

 own preparing, in which there are very ample collec- 

 tions. The rocks are lofty enough for affording an 

 eyrie to the eagle ; and the coppices by the banks of the 

 stream are close and tangled enough for sheltering the 

 wood-cat and the otter. Both have this advantage too, 

 that they have habitations which harmonize with the 

 wildest of these beauties. The house of Craighhali 

 stands hundreds of feet above the foaming Ericht, on 

 the top of an abrupt precipice. The garden at Kil- 

 morac parsonage also overhangs the fall. 



The pool below that fall is very large ; and as it is 

 the head of the run in one of the finest salmon rivers 

 in the north, and only a few miles distant from the 

 sea, it is literally thronged with salmon, which are 

 continually attempting to pass the fall, but without 

 success, as the limit of their perpendicular spring does 

 not appear to exceed twelve or fourteen feet ; at least, 

 if they leap higher than that, they are aimless and 

 exhausted, and the force of the current dashes them 

 down again before they have recovered their energy. 

 At Kilmorac they often kill themselves by the violence 

 of their exertions to ascend ; and sometimes they fall 



