108 A VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE MORAY BASIN. 



precipitous and heather-clad, but all the left is under cultivation 

 to the tops of the low rounded hills. 



The deep gorge at Beldorney through which the river now 

 tears its way, is romantic and lovely in the extreme. The whole 

 character of the stream is altered, for now there occurs for the 

 space of a few hundred yards a rapid succession of dark, deep 

 salmon pools, and intervening races of sparkKng aerated streams. 

 This is the cutting through another range of hills which forms as 

 it were the gate of the Lower Cabrach; just as we have described 

 the Upper Cabrach, which is entered by a narrow pass in like 

 manner. Above the river on the left bank stands the old castle 

 and mansion of Beldorney embowered in old wood; and where 

 lovely winding paths lead up from the river's brink to the higher 

 levels. Freed once again from its pent-up condition, the river 

 flows away in more tranquil manner, through open haugh- 

 lands, and by wooded bends, past the manse of Glass, and so on 

 through the ever-widening valley to the base of Dunbennan hill. 

 At this point it is bridged by a handsome span of three arches 

 which carries the road which cuts across the peninsula formed by 

 the rapid and bold curve the river makes below, round the 

 northern base of Dunbennan hill. From the bridge down to 

 Huntly the trouting water is thrown open to the public of Huntly 

 by the Marquis of Huntly. How they repay this generosity can 

 always be witnessed from the bridge at Huntly which crosses 

 the river Bogie, where, in broad and open day, the inhabitants 

 of Huntly, after a run of salmon, may be observed killing these 

 fish by the score with leaded hooks, ' snatching ' them from the 

 pool below the unserviceable salmon-ladder placed on the face of 

 the dam — utterly illegal fishing. 



Below Huntly is a stretch of preserved water, and most of the 

 river after this down to the sea is likewise preserved, except a 

 small portion on one side below Eothiemay Station and above the 

 junction with the Isla, 



We are equally well acquainted with the Lower Deveron 

 below Huntly, but do not consider that it is necessary to enter 

 into such minute details as we have done regarding the higher 

 reaches. We will only rapidly glance at the main features of 



