82 INVERERNE. 



that I can find. I saw a badger track near the sea to-day in a 

 place certainly three or four miles from any cover or hole inhabited 

 by these animals. They seem to be great wanderers at this time 

 of year. 



March 22nd. In the evening, waited for ducks near the 

 river. Killed two wigeon ; the drake still not in full plumage. 

 Killed some fresh-run sea-trout in the morning. Fish have 

 more instinct than we give them credit for. I saw a trout 

 to-day (about six inches long) that had been left in a small 

 pool by a rise of the river making its way over the dry stones 

 over a ridge that separated the pool it was in from the river, the 

 distance being a full yard. When it saw us, the trout imme- 

 diately turned itself round and wriggled back into the pool it 

 had come from. This seems so very extraordinary a story that 

 I should be almost afraid of telling it to any person ; nevertheless 

 it is true. 



The duck's bill is a very curious and perfect piece of 

 " mechanism." The end is full of the most delicate nerves, with 

 which the bird can discover the small worms, etc. that it preys 

 on under the mud. The end of the woodcock and curlew are 

 furnished in the same manner, but apparently not so completely 

 as the duck ; whereas the bill of the oyster-catcher is as hard 

 as ivory at the tip, the bird using it more for breaking open 

 shell-fish than for digging in the mud. 



E[ennie] tells me that it is a most amusing sight to see an old 

 otter teach her young ones to fish. An old otter (accompanied 

 by a couple of young ones when fishing in a burn or river) on 

 catching a good-sized fish carries it to the bank and gives a loud, 

 shrill kind of cry between a whistle and a blowing noise. The 

 young ones immediately hasten up, tumbling over each other in 

 their eagerness to get to the fish. The quickest takes hold of it, 

 and then they commence tugging and pulling at it like two 

 puppies at a bone. At last the old one interferes and drives 

 away one of the young ones. She then continues her fishing, 

 and generally soon catches some more prey. I see the otter 

 tracks very much about the small pools at the end of the river, 



