.1 



118 A VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE MORAY BASIN. j 



higher elevations than that of the parent stream, pouring down I 



from the Monadhliath mountains on the north or left bank, and | 



from the great mountainous ranges of the Grampians on the south j 



or right bank. None of these tributaries in Badenoch can perhaps : | 



rank as rivers, but can only be denominated mountain burns, until | 



we come some few miles farther down the valley. The river Truim ! 

 joins the Spey below Glen Truim House, and it rises on the level, 

 or nearly level, moss at the watershed between Dalwhinnie and 



Drumouchter. True, a little stream, the Mashie Water, joins above ! 



Laggan, but its name indicates a position of importance only mid- i 



way between a burn and a river. i 



All the way down the Spey until we reach the farm of Shirra- 

 more — passing the site of the old barracks near Garbha Bridge — 



the river ' brattles ' over a stony gravelly bed; but below Shirra- j 



more foams and 'warstles' through about half a mile of rocky i 



salmon-pool and stream, and then again widens out and trots | 



gently on for several miles to near Laggan Bridge. Thereafter it j 



slides sleepily along through long dead reaches — beloved of pike — < 



with deep heavy gliding streams between, holding large and lovely \ 



trout; through the haughs of Cluny, with many a serpentine ' 

 twining, between deep-cut banks, or artificially staked buttresses, 



the adjacent meadows being protected from flooding by high-raised j 



embankments. Often amongst these meadows one meets with | 



deep stagnant pools, growing in rare luxuriance the many-jointed I 



' puddock-pipes ' (equisetum sp. ?) and other water plants. These ! 



are isolated pools, which once were parts of the older river-bed, ! 



but which by the shifting of the river itself, assisted by pick ] 

 and shovel, have been in part reclaimed with the rich meadow- 

 land around. In the same way here and there you meet with 



the old river-bed, and ridges of water- worn pebbles. i 



The Truim — the first stream deserving of the title of river, ! 



which joins the Spey on the right or south bank — rises on | 



the mossy land by the railway side beyond Dalwhinnie, and • 



not far from the county march of Perth and Inverness ; and , 



its tributary runlets, rising near the base of An Tore or the j 



Boar of Badenoch, drain also the most of the great hill of | 



Markanich (Marcaonach, 3185 ft.), besides drawing supplies from | 



