ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 131 



magnificent in the extreme. The unsullied loch (from 

 a narrow arm of which a small river a tributary of 

 the Clyde swept onwards towards the same) lay like 

 a sheet of looking-glass below : while the radiant sky, 

 the reflections in the water, the universal silence, were 

 so charming in effect, that I may be excused if my 

 thoughts there and then resolved themselves in the 

 following form : 



Majestically rolling the Highland rivers flow ; 



Their rippled bosoms courting the breezes as they blow : 



While the bubble of the streamlet and the gurgle of the 



rill 

 Gently whisper back, mellifluous, the echo from the hill. 



Onward ever nobly rushing, through the valley and the 



fell, 

 By the mountain and the moorland, through the dingle and 



the dell; 

 Their darker depths invite to lave and cleave the waters 



cool, 

 Where the swirling of the torrent breaks the eddy of the 



p6ol. 



There's a quiet in the stilly air a solitude, a rest, 



As the fleeting shadows flit along the mountain's rugged 



breast ; 

 While the brilliancy of sunlight with the sombreness of 



shade 

 Brighten up fair Nature's landscape and illuminate the 



glade. 



