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Appendices to Fifth Annual Report 



North Isles, comprehending Stronsay, Sanday, North Ronaldshay, Eday, 

 Westray, and Papa Westray, besides many smaller islands and holms. 



The general surface of the Orkneys is somewhat low and flat, and the 

 only island that can be termed mountainous is Hoy, or the high island, 

 in which are the two loftiest summits in the Orcadian group, namely, the 

 Ward Hill 1564 feet, and Cuilags, 1420 feet. Hoy is the second largest 

 of the Orkney Islands, and is by far the most picturesque. It is about 14 

 miles long by 6 broad, and has the advantage of possessing the finest 

 harbour in the Orkneys, termed the Long Hope. To the south and 

 west, Hoy presents an almost unbroken range of precipices to the stormy 

 seas that sweep round its shores, the highest point being Braebrough, or 

 St John's Head, which towers 1140 feet above the seas that w T ash its base. 

 These precipices belong to the Old Red Sandstone group, and their colours 

 are magnificent — red and yellow of every hue, with here and there dashes 

 of green. Under sunshine their tints are glorious, and they look bright 

 even in the grey days so common in these northern latitudes. 



On the south side of Hoy there is a small stream falling into Rackwick 

 Bay, in the lower part of which are many fine pools that, in autumn, are 

 much frequented by large sea-trout, and where grilse also are occasionally 

 got ; while on the north side, facing Hoy Sound, the Bays of Cruckland 

 and Quoys, and Ore Bay are among the best localities in the Orkneys for 

 angling in the sea for sea-trout, which take the worm and the fly freely. 

 The principal lochs in Hoy are Heldale "Water and Hoglinns Water, the 

 former of which is upwards of a mile long, and has a communication with 

 the sea by Greenheads Burn. One gentleman, in answering my printed 

 queries, states that the Loch of Helier in Hoy is the only loch in the 

 Orkney Islands which contains char. 



There are many other bays in the Orkney Islands besides those men- 

 tioned in Hoy, where sea-trout take the worm or the fly as readily in the 

 sea as they do in a fresh water loch or stream ; such are, on the Mainland, 

 the bay into which the Grsemeshall Burn flows, St Mary's Bay, Kirkwall 

 Bay, Scapa Flow, Inganess Bay, Deer Sound, Bay of Firth, Bay of 

 Isbister, and Waulkmill Bay ; in Rousay, the bay into which the Sourin 

 Burn falls, and various other bays and sounds. It has often struck me 

 as a curious fact that, in the Orkney and Shetland Islands and in the 

 Outer Hebrides, sea-trout should take the fly, the worm, the natural sand 

 eel, or other lure in the salt water almost as readily as in the fresh ; 

 whereas, on the shores of the mainland of Scotland, it is quite an excep- 

 tional thing to take sea-trout by angling in the sea. I know only of the 

 Kyle of Durness and the Kyle of Tongue, the estuary of the Fleet in 

 Sutherlandshire and that of the Ythan in Aberdeenshire where this 

 can be done. But in the island of Lewis, in North and South Harris, 

 in North Uist and South Uist, I have repeatedly taken large sea-trout 

 with fly and minnow in the salt water ; and at one spot in South Uist 

 I have captured yellow trout nearly a mile from any fresh water. What 

 can be the cause of this difference between the mainland and the islands 

 adjacent to it ? I remember years ago, mentioning it to the late Frank 

 Buckland, my old friend and colleague on many a Fishery Inquiry, and 

 he was as much puzzled to account for it as myself. 



In the beginning of July last, I commenced my inspection of the 

 Fisheries in Orkney by driving from Stromness to the Bridge of Waithe, 

 under which the waters of Loch Stenness flow into the sea in a deep 

 strong current, through three arches, and the flood tide from the sea 

 mingles with the waters of the loch. 



Loch Stenness is a great sheet of water about 15 miles in circumfer- 

 ence, including its upper and lower divisions. The name is sometimes 



