28 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



a few scattered sheep, yet the hedge on each side of the 

 road, and which is composed of beech and quickset 

 judiciously combined, thrives so wonderfully notwith- 

 standing its very exposed situation, that it remains for 

 a long distance the only object of interest. An ill- 

 starred cuckoo tried in vain to find a tree to perch upon, 

 arid rested in despair upon the hedges. All around is 

 surprisingly flat, and more especially as compared to 

 the bolder inequalities of Sutherlandshire. 



At last the road makes a slight detour from its 

 systematic straightness, and we suddenly arrive at the 

 top of a gentle declivity, and a panorama breaks upon 

 the view with all the effect which non-expectation 

 contributes to enhance. Stretched below the horses' 

 feet extend the slated roofs and ornate spires of houses 

 and churches. Straight before us, a narrow sheet of, 

 on this occasion, smooth sea distinguishes the fair 

 island of Orkney, which looms in the background of 

 our picture from the mainland. To the left, the houses 

 and streets shelve step by step down to the waterside ; 

 while to the right, the flagstone cliffs, precipitous and 

 bleak, of Scotia's northern shore, stretch away in a 

 well-defined semicircle till they end abruptly, as it 

 stands out stereo scopically in the sun's rays, in the 

 bluff and rugged head of Dunnit. Shrilly heralded by 

 an echoing " yard of tin," the leaders straining on the 

 bit, and the ribbons gracefully waved by an old and 

 experienced hand, the Inverness mail, after rounding 



