80 



CHAPTER VI. 



" The wanderers of heaven 

 Each to his home retire, save those that love 

 To take their pastime in the troubled air, 

 Or skimming flutter round the dimply pool." 



THOMSON. 



HAVING heard that a considerable mass of reeds grew 

 at one end of this loch, I concluded that the bald coot 

 (Fulica atra) would be certainly found there ; a bird 

 common enough on many of our southern meres, but 

 not as yet existing in my own collection. My 

 hypothesis turned out to be correct. 



After I had surmounted the last hill that overhangs 

 the lake, the view became very pleasant. I know not 

 how it is, but I suppose partly from association and 

 partly from its effect, that the sudden appearance of 

 water in a landscape is always gladdening to my sight. 

 I had, during the latter portion of my walk, felt con- 

 siderably exhausted, owing to having imprudently 

 carried nothing with me in the shape of luncheon ; so, 

 resting at a cottage door, I craved, not unreluctantly, 

 a little simple refreshment. The gude woman's 

 interrogatories both startle^ and amused me. " Where 

 do you come from?" "Are you in a consumption?" 



