58 A VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE MORAY BASIN. 



forming precipices, while the river rushes below in a foaming 

 torrent, or forms dark, still, and oily-looking pools. 



These high banks are of a 'pudding-stone' nature, and in 

 places have been worn into holes, in which gnarled trees, covered 

 with ivy, find a precarious foothold; these are the resort of 

 numerous Jackdaws and a few Stock-doves, which seem to find 

 excellent breeding-ground here. Immediately after leaving the 

 Druim the river opens out from some fifteen or twenty yards in 

 breadth to over one hundred, and then passes the well-known falls 

 of Kilmorack. Below the falls the river runs swiftly for some 

 considerable distance, and here the best angling is to be had, 

 mostly from a boat ; below the Black Bridge it ends in a deep, 

 sullen, dark pool, with little life in it, unless during a very heavy 

 spate. Near here, on the right bank, is Beaufort Castle, the seat of 

 the Lovat family. A little below this are the cruives, the most 

 extensive we have ever seen, and, between these and the nets, 

 the wonder is that so many fish ascend the river as is the case. 

 From here to the ferry below Clunes the river runs through a 

 gravelly bed, forming pools of more or less excellence, from an 

 angling point of view. Below the ferry the land is heavier, and 

 the river is kept from continually flooding it by embankments. 



From the neighbourhood of Eskadale downwards there is no 

 land of any height, it is mostly grouse moor. Besides the large 

 area under wood there is a great amount of cultivation inter- 

 spersed, both crofts and large farms ; much of the low-lying land 

 below Beaufort suffered from the heavy floods of January 1892, 

 large quantities of good land being washed away or covered 

 with stones and sand. But the wooded area, all or nearly all, 

 with the exception of the patches of birch and alder, planted by 

 man, is the most striking sight, stretching as it does from Farley 

 in the north, past Belladrum to Glen Convinth in the south, and 

 from Eskadale eastward to the Beauly Firth. Such an extent of 

 wood must materially affect the climate and bird-life. A very 

 large amount of this planting was done between the years 1830-50. 



To our minds the most beautiful part of the whole strath is that 

 part from Aigas, where the valley narrows, to the old Beauly bridge, 

 where the main north road crosses the river. Beautiful by nature 



