Ixvi 



DESCRIPTIVE CHAPTERS. 



east rendered it difficult to get justice done to it from the constant 

 swaying to and fro of the trees. The same cause militated against 

 our success with other views. 



After an inspection of Mr. Milne's collection of eggs and birds, 

 and his beautiful wood-carving, at which he is an adept, we pursued 

 our way to Arbroath. 



THE EED HEAD AND COAST-LINE OF FOEFAR 



On the 8th June we drove to South Mains Farm; and thence 

 Mr. Norrie followed the coast-line to Bed Head — which is the sea- 

 ward extremity of the extension of the Sidlaw Hills — and secured a 

 few views of the coast scenery of this portion of the Forfar seaboard. 

 There is not much to describe unless one were better acquainted 

 with matters of local interest than I am ; therefore I do not 

 attempt it. There is a resting place of the Great Cormorant 

 on a pinnacle of outstanding rock, but I am not aware of any 

 nesting place of these birds anywhere upon the east coast of 

 Scotland, and certainly none within our present area. The shore 

 between Auchmithie and Arbroath is much honeycombed by caves 

 entering above the present sea-level, and at many parts there is an 

 accumulation of drift and debris along the cliff-foot, with a super- 

 intending scree or slope often clothed with rank vegetation, and it 

 is, I understand, a paradise for the botanist, but of its details in this 

 respect I cannot speak. In this way it differs from most of the sea- 

 braes with which I have been acquainted, and even presents con- 

 trasts with the adjoining coast-lines of the next county to the north, 

 viz. Kincardineshire, as perhaps may be gathered from the illustra- 

 tion given of Muchalls, between Stonehaven and Aberdeen; and, 

 again, that provided by Mr. George Sim in his Fauna of Dee, of 

 Fowls' Heugh, the principal " rookery " of sea-fowl upon our east 

 coast. At Eed Head there are a few pairs of Guillemots nesting, as 

 I am assured by Dr. T. F. Dewar, who visited the locality lately, and 

 informed me that he saw somewhere about a dozen pairs of breeding 

 birds and their eggs. During the course of our drive we passed 



