GENERAL WATERSHEDS. 



xxxi 



Thus the Tay estuary combines with the southern portion of Tay in 

 leading migrants westwards. 



Through the remaining range of the Ochil Hills, as indicated, 

 the hills are of more lowly proportions, reaching from 1080 to some 

 1715 feet in height, culminating in the latter in the Lomonds of 

 Fife.^ East of the Lomond stretches the great plain of the Howe 

 of Fife, with the river Eden winding slowly onward to join the sea 

 at St. Andrews, the highest extension of the boundary-lands on the 

 coast being at Fife-Ness. 



But the great central mass of the 2600 square miles of the 

 drainage area of the river Tay alone is ribbed by many spurs of the 

 main ranges, and constitutes the principal cause of the Highland 

 scenery of lovely Perthshire. Many of the dominant mountains of 

 these spurs rival, and indeed, in some instances, exceed the altitudes 

 of the main range of the Grampians. Thus I instance Ben Lawers and 

 the pyramidal cone of Schiehallion, and many other 3000-ft. satellites 

 north of Loch Tay, such as Meall Garve or Scoupa (3057 feet), and quite 

 a group of giants stretching westwards, too numerous to name here. 



In the north-east there are few great mountains dominant in the 

 landscape, because the far-reaching plain of Strathmore which isolates 

 the spur of the Sidlaw Hills from the Grampians is so great in 

 width as to dwarf to the vision the distant mountains in the north. 

 Nevertheless, there are many goodly hills amongst those of what I 

 may call the Carn-districts ^ or spurs of the main ranges in Forfar- 



^ It is incidentally mentioned in Hume Brown's Early Travellers that in 1598 

 Fife contained few or no wooded areas of any extent, only " Noblemens and Gentle- 

 mens dwellings compassed by little groves" {op. cit., p. 85, auct. Fynes Moryson). 

 And even at the present time of writing the East Neuk of Fife and the Howe are 

 noticeable in this respect by the strongly marked patchwork patterns of small plan- 

 tations dotted about over the slopes and on the lower levels, interspersed with 

 agricultural and grazing grounds. 



Again : *' From this point, the Howe of Fife, carrying the waters of the Eden to 

 the sea near St. Andrews, is bounded on the south by the high ridge of barren land," 

 etc., which separates it from the Forth drainage slopes. (See The East Neuk of Fifty 

 by the Rev. Walter Wood, A.M. 1862. Oliver and Boyd. This little work is 

 full of interesting lore regarding the country closely adjoining the Tay area, and 

 from which I have extracted the above portion of a sentence regarding the boundary 

 line. In this book there are more than thirty pages on Geology and twenty-six 

 pages on Botany (appendixes), and a careful index. ) 



- For a definition and description of my so-called "Carn-districts," see our 

 Moray Fauna, vol. i. , introductory matter. 



