INTRODUCTION. 3 



money-making affairs are always located receive their poisonous 

 refuse, which forms a slimy deposit on the stones and rocks, very 

 much to the detriment of trout or salmon, particularly the young 

 fry. 



In May 1851 I was at the Loch of Spynie with my father 

 and Mr John Hancock looking for the shoveller's nest ; and 

 having watched one of these birds alight in the long grass 

 bordering the open water, we approached quietly and the duck 

 flushed close to us. The nest with several eggs was in some 

 long grass. At the time I speak of, this bird was not common 

 in the locality, and its really nesting was not certain. Great 

 was Mr Hancock's pleasure at procuring an authentic specimen 

 of the egg. 



In 1897 I was once more close to the same spot, and the 

 above incident was brought vividly to my recollection. Scarcely 

 100 yards had I gone down the big drain which runs through 

 the great extent of swamp and into the open water, when I 

 came on a couple of drake shovellers, and a short way on 

 a duck and seven little shovellers. A hundred yards further, 

 another brood of about five, with their mother, swam out of the 

 tall rushes into the open water. 



I visited the rocks below Gordonstown and found the pere- 

 grine falcon was still there. It was here we used to get the 

 young birds to train for hawking. Although the Lossie is prac- 

 tically ruined for trout fishing owing to the number of mills 

 which now adorn its banks, nearly all discharging refuse matter 

 into the small river, and being quite unequal to carry it away, 

 its bed for miles is slimy with filth, poisonous to fish. As the 

 tide comes up sea trout come with it, and can be taken with 

 the fly just above the fishing village of Lossiemouth. Possibly 

 during a heavy flood some may go up the river and get past the 

 mills, which are mainly close to Elgin. 



When returning south by Loch Ness it was wonderful to see 

 the tameness of the black-headed gulls that followed the steamer, 

 almost taking the bread from my hand, which I held out over the 

 vessel's side. They approached in numbers within two and three 



