290 DECEMBER 



rick) are very large red deer ; and about the top thereof 

 that fine bird called the Mountain Partridge, or, by the 

 commonalty, the Tarmachan, about the size of a Red-cock, 

 and the flesh much of the same nature ; feeds, as that bird 

 doth, on the seeds of the bull-rush, and makes its protec- 

 tion in the chinks and hollow places of thick stones, from 

 the insults of the eagles, which are in plenty, both the 

 large gray and the black, about that mountain.' 



The lonely top of Merrick presents the same 

 aspect to-day as when these lines were penned, but 

 red deer, eagles, and ptarmigan have been driven 

 from their immemorial home. The eagles lingered 

 longest ; the * black,' that is, the golden eagle, was 

 known to breed on this range as late as 1839 ; and 

 ' the large gray/ or white-tailed eagle, had its last 

 eyrie here about 1862. No bird of ravin larger 

 than the buzzard, or nobler than the peregrine, 

 frequents these heights at this day, but the memorial 

 of the eagles is indelibly written on one peak, called 

 Benyellary that is, in the departed Gaelic tongue 

 beinn iolaire, the eagle's hill. 



LXXXIX 



During four whole days (December 1895) the 



A Nor' wind has roared from the north and 



Wester north-west, most of the time with the 



force of a heavy gale. This is unusual constancy 



