140 A VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE MORAY BASIN. 



salmon, and even as it is, if the autumn be wet, after the close- 

 time for the nets, many fish are caught; even in spring a few 

 manage to make their way up. In hard or stormy weather 

 many ducks find shelter, and with snow and a strong easterly gale, 

 crowds of Teal and other wild-fowl rest in the backwaters and 

 springs along its course. 



Besides the large and well- cultivated farms that line the lower 

 parts of the Nairn, there are likewise large tracts of well-grown 

 timber, amongst which larch seems to do well. Around the manor- 

 houses some of the hard-wood is exceptionally fine, as for instance 

 the ash-tree about the old castle of Cawdor. 



Of the Nairn valley and county of Nairn we are told, one-fifth 

 of the area is under cultivation. The county contains 215 square 

 miles (or 137,000 acres), giving 27,070 acres or thereby under 

 cultivation, but the valley of the Findhorn also drains a considerable 

 part of the county. The river Nairn is thirty-six miles long. 



