4:0 A VEETEBRATE FAUNA OE THE MORAY BASIN. 



heads of the Cromarty and Beauly Firths are only some five miles 

 or so apart, and the peninsula thus formed is called the Black 

 Isle, of which more hereafter. 



The entrance to the Cromarty Firth lies between the two Sutors, 

 and is very narrow, widening, however, almost immediately on the 

 north side into the bay of Nigg, which runs inland for a consider- 

 able distance. This bay is very shallow^ and at low tide the 

 firm sand of which it is composed is used as a convenient road 

 between the promontory of Nigg and the mainland. 



Immediately after passing Nigg Bay the Firth narrows, and at 

 Invergorden is crossed by a ferry. Here the water is very deep 

 and the anchorage good, as is evidenced by the fact that the 

 Channel Fleet has visited it on two or three occasions, and just 

 outside Cromarty is a very favourite anchorage for wind-bound 

 vessels. Farther up, the Firth is only navigable for small trading 

 vessels, but here its character is more that of an estuary than a sea 

 loch. The shores are mostly muddy flats, yet the number of wad- 

 ing-birds is surprisingly small, except in the early autumn. Forty 

 or fifty years ago, the Cromarty Firth was the resort of quantities 

 of wild-fowl, and even yet a great number of ducks are got there, 

 but the number of punt guns which, any night that is suitable, 

 may be heard booming away, has driven them off to other less 

 disturbed districts. Between Fowlis and Dingwall the shallow 

 water is often covered with diving ducks, mostly Scaups, ap- 

 parently. Seals are rare, though we have seen one now and then, 

 resting on or swimming about some large rocks which lie between 

 Fowlis and Kiltearn Point. 



Between Nigg and Dingwall the Alness is the only river of any 

 importance that enters the Firth. It rises on the borders of 

 the Diebidale Forest, flows through Loch Morie in the Forest 

 of Kildermorie, and enters the sea below Alness, passing Ardross 

 on its way. A considerable number of Salmon and Sea-Trout 

 frequent the river, but it seems of little account from an angler's 

 point of view, partly on account of netting at the mouth, and more 

 than probably from poaching. 



Close to Stittenham, near Alness, is the small loch of 

 Achnacloich, which contains some good trout. At one time. 



