ROBERT DICK 49 



class Aves must stand the family Corvidce, of which family 

 no one will dispute the superiority of the genus Corvus, 

 nor in that genus the pre-eminence of Corvus corax the 

 widely-ranging Raven of the Northern Hemisphere, the 

 bird perhaps best known from the most ancient times, and, 

 as it happens, that to which belongs the earliest historical 

 association with man.' 



The eagle is for ever discrowned ; allegiance must 

 be paid to the raven as the monarch of fowls of the 

 air. 



XVIII 

 To enter thoroughly into the spirit of penultima 



Thule, one must read Smiles' Life of _ 



J Robert Dick 



Robert Dick, baker, botanist, and geolo- 

 gist of Thurso. There are few things more pathetic 

 than devotion to an intellectual pursuit, maintained 

 without a word or look of encouragement, interest, 

 or sympathy from friend or neighbour. Such was 

 Dick's lifelong lot ; nay, the townspeople, shrugging 

 their shoulders, used to hint that he was ' daft, 3 and 

 murmured at him because his bread suffered by 

 reason of the ardour of his studies. He used to set 

 the loaves soon after midnight, and, leaving his 

 house at four in the morning, set off at a run for 

 Morven, distant some thirty miles of moor and 

 quag, and, having filled his satchel with plants from 



