ORNITHOLOGICAL EAMBLES. 127 



outstretched wings in the most fearless and un- 

 suspecting manner. 



The effect of the surrounding prospect, embracing 

 the distant Grampians, backed by the expansive green 

 sward of the North Inch, the scene of the battle in 

 "The Fair Maid," and enhanced by my having the 

 good fortune to behold it in the midst of the transient 

 loveliness of the opening summer, tempted me to pause 

 in my route ; to woo fair Nature in her richer garb ; 

 to wander over foss and fell ; and to loiter for awhile 

 amid the sylviau and aquatic beauties of the Trossachs. 

 It was during my stay at Callander that I found the 

 common curlew (Numenius arquata), breeding in the 

 rising hay grass on the banks of the Teith, and a pair 

 of them were kindly shot for me by the keeper of Holt 

 Skinner, Esq. Perhaps at no time does the enchant- 

 ment of romantic scenery adapt itself to the imagina- 

 tion with more thrilling force than as in the present 

 instance ; and after my recent experience of a country 

 strangely denuded of trees, even to the smallest bush, 

 I found myself strolling, fly rod in hand, amidst the 

 loveliest recesses of the same, heightened by the com- 

 bined effects of peculiarly brilliant weather, and the 

 fresh pale emerald-green of the bursting foliage. The 

 calm serenity of lake and dell, and the mingled voices 

 of the smaller song birds from the leafy boughs, was a 

 relief to my soul after the treeless wastes amid the 

 roar of ocean. 



