CH. IV. TRAVELLING FROM EDINBURGH. 45 



CHAPTER IV. 



Return to Sutherland — Travelling from Edinburgh — Skye 

 Terrier; peculiarities of — Lairg — Loch Shin — River 

 Shin — Reserve of the English — Mr. Young's Experiments 

 respecting Salmon ; Anecdotes of Salmon ; Manner of Spawn- 

 ing ; Food of Salmon — Drive to Aultnaharrow — Curlews, 

 &c. — Loch Naver — Phalaropes — Widgeon — Green- 

 shank, &c. 



June dth. — Having been called suddenly to Eng- 

 land in the midst of my rambles in Sutherlandshire 

 in May, I did not find myself again in that county 

 till the 9th of June. Travelling (that is, the mere 

 act of passing along the road) takes up very little 

 of your time nowadays. You go from London to 

 Edinburgh in about thirteen hours, and a good 

 steamer takes the traveller from Granton Pier to 

 Invergordon in Ross-shire quickly and comfortably 

 enough ; that is, I left Granton at 6 a.m. on the 

 6th, and landed at Invergordon early in the evening 

 of the 7th, accompanied only by a Skye terrier, who 

 from his earliest childhood, or rather puppyhood, 

 has always managed to stick closely to me. In 

 wild-fowl shooting, when no dog is required save a 

 quiet retriever, Fred (so was he christened by some 

 of my children) is always allowed to accompany me, 



