70 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. V. 



there is a very beautiful hill covered with wood 

 to a considerable height, and surmounted by a 

 curiously-formed steep cliff— the very place for an 

 eagle's nest : I was told that a nest had been 

 destroyed there last year. 



The whole view of Ben Laighal is magnificent, 

 and, in driving round it, we had the advantage 

 of seeing it on every side. Towards the loch the 

 mountain slopes down, covered with bright green 

 herbage ; but to the north and west nothing can 

 surpass the savage grandeur of its rocky precipices. 

 Viewed from Tongue, Ben Laighal is, I think, the 

 most magnificent looking mountain in Sutherland- 

 shire. Our attention was attracted by the cries 

 of the peregrine falcon, and we saw the two birds 

 flying about a high rock. Having hailed a 

 shepherd's boy, we learned where the nest was, and 

 under his guidance climbed up the mountain — 

 and a good steep climb it was — till we got within 

 a few yards of the nest ; so near, indeed, did we 

 reach, that with two joints of my fishing-rod I 

 could just touch the young birds, who were sitting 

 eyeing us boldly and fearlessly on a ledge of rock 

 where the nest was placed. When, however, we 

 attempted to push them out of the nest, they 

 retired farther in, where they were in tolerable 

 security. All the time we were there the old 



