6 



A VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE MORAY BASIN. 



Immediately to the south of this range rises the great central 

 mass of the Eannich hills. They are more abrupt and peaked 

 than the ones just described, though there are rounded forms 

 amongst them. The highest is Sgurr Mor (3637 feet); seen from 

 north and north-west, it is a graceful sharp-pointed cone. Next in 

 height to Sgurr Mor is Sgurr nan Clach Geala (3581 feet). It is 

 marked by a tremendous precipice on the eastern face, which has 

 the appearance of having been scooped out by a gigantic cheese 

 knife. The corrie is some 1800 feet deep. The precipice face is 

 broken 600 or 7 00 feet from the top by a steep slope, which ends 

 in an abrupt descent, with a talus of stones to the bottom of the 

 corrie. The Eagen (about 2800 feet) rises at the east end of Loch 

 Fannich. This mountain has a particularly picturesque appearance 

 from the road between Fannich Lodo^e and Loch Luichart. Its 

 principal feature is a great precipice facing north-east. The only 

 other hill which is worthy of especial notice here is the smooth, 

 isolated Fionn Bheinn (3060 feet) behind Achnasheen station. 



To the east lies the massive Ben Wyvis (3429 feet), which, 

 excepting for its height, the space it covers, and its position close 

 to the German Ocean, presents nothing remarkable beyond the 

 typical cliffs and corries on its east and north-east slopes. It has 

 been misnamed the King of Eoss-shire Mountains ; there are at 

 least a dozen which deserve the title better. In form it is a long, 

 flat-topped, shapeless mountain, with several outliers of similar 

 form. To the north lies Feachdach (3018 feet); to the south, 

 Little Wyvis (2497 feet). 



To the west of these groups, and lying along the western sea- 

 board, rise some of the finest mountains in the British Islands. 

 Like the peaks of Assynt in Sutherland, they are formed of 

 Hebridean gneiss, Torridon sandstone, and quartzite. For con- 

 venience sake we will divide them into three divisions : — (1) the 

 northern, between Little Loch Broom and Loch Maree; (2) the 

 middle, between Loch Maree and Loch Torridon; and (3) the 

 southern, between Lochs Torridon and Carron. 



Commencing in the north, we have a long line of hills of no 

 great height, dividing Big and Little Loch Broom, terminated at its 

 western end by Ben Ghobhlach (2082 feet), formed of Torridon 



