of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



155 



long by a mile wide, and in some places 90 fathoms deep. It is 

 668 feet above the level of the sea. It receives a few tributaries 

 on its north and south sides, in which there is good spawning 

 ground ; but its chief feeders are the Ericht and the Gaur. The 

 former flows into it on the north side, about a mile below Eannoch 

 Lodge, issuing from the foot of Loch Ericht, a great expanse of 

 water 15 miles long, hemmed in on both sides by lofty 

 mountains, and varying in breadth from a mile and an eighth 

 to a quarter of a mile; while the latter — a stream three times 

 the size of the Ericht — connects Loch Laidon, whose upper 

 waters are in the Black Mount Deer Forest, with the head 

 of Loch Eannoch. I walked up the Ericht from its junction 

 with Loch Eannoch to its source in Loch Ericht, a distance of 

 about 6 miles. The bed of the stream is rocky and unsuitable 

 for spawning purposes for a considerable distance up to where it 

 is joined by the Alt Glass Burn ; but between that burn and the 

 foot of Loch Ericht, a distance of about 2 miles, there is much 

 good spawning ground and some capital angling pools. About 1-J 

 mile up the stream, from where it joins Loch Eannoch, there is a 

 considerable waterfall on the Ericht, which salmon could scarcely 

 ascend in its present state, but it could easily be made accessible ; 

 and the proprietor, Sir Eobert Menzies, Bart., will undertake to do 

 this in the event of an efficient salmon-pass being placed on the 

 Falls of Tummel. The narrow gorge where this fall dashes over 

 the rocks is known as ' Struan's Leap,' so called from a Eobertson 

 of Struan, who cleared it at a single bound when hard pressed by 

 his pursuers. 



The Ericht flows out of the eastern corner of the south extremity 

 of Loch Ericht, and a good spawning burn of considerable size, 

 called the Canachrochan Burn, flows into the western corner. I 

 walked back to the head of Loch Eannoch, along the skirts of the 

 Eannoch Deer Forest, then crossed the Alt Chalder — a full, deep 

 burn with a fine gravelly bottom — which passes through a small 

 loch and then flows into the Gaur. 



Next day I walked along the whole course of the Gaur and 

 along part of the shores of Loch Laidon. The Gaur is a splendid 

 stream, as large as the Tummel. It has a course of 7 miles, and 

 unites the wild and remote Loch Laidon, 924 feet above the level 

 of the sea, with the head of Loch Eannoch. In it there are many 

 grand angling streams and pools, and a large extent of excellent 

 spawning ground. It has everything to attract and multiply 

 salmon, and it is a great pity that they are debarred from reaching 

 it. A good many tributary streams flow into each side of the 

 Gaur. On the right bank it receives the Alt Chomrie and the Alt 

 Dubh, both of which have some good spawning ground in the lower 

 part of their courses, and good lies for salmon ; but on the latter, 

 about a mile above its junction with the Gaur, there are two water- 

 falls close to each other, and each nearly 20 feet in height, which 

 would, of course, effectually bar the farther progress of ascending 

 fish. There is a deep pool beneath the lowest of the two falls, 

 where salmon might probably be found in the latter end of the 

 season, if they were enabled to reach the Gaur. On the left bank 



