MR. HARVIE-nilOW.V OX PRIEST ISLAND AND ITS BIRD LIFE. 311 
Leen forced to the conclusion that the glory of summer-fishing had 
departed from this river ; although only a .short decade previou.sly, 
one pool alone had yielded to one rod no less than twenty-three 
Salmon and Grilse in one day, all taken with tlie fly, by a compara- 
tive tyro in the art. “They are not in it,” was our oft-repeated 
cry. It will become a later river, year by year, until finally the 
great old autumn breeders alone will obtain access to the spawning 
grounds, anil spring and summer-running fish will have become 
amongst the things that were. It is incredible that many west 
country lairds are so blind to their own ultimate interests, that they 
permit such havoc to take place amongst the fish that lay the 
golden eggs. It /.s conceivable where interests jar ; but where an 
e.xclusivo right exists, ailvorso of all adjoining jiroperties, it is, 
indeed, incomprehensible and .suicidal. Hut this is a digression 
from the true subject of this paper. 
A very faint breeze hero and there helped us upon our way, 
and as I have said, our men had to row most of the way there, 
and most of the way back. Thunder was ])ealing amongst the 
splintered peaks of the Kosshire mountains, working most of the 
day in a semicircular sweep, touching Bein-!Mohr, of Cromarty, in 
the north, and rolling back upon itself again among the hills of the 
Loch-an-shallag Deer Forest, but not reaching out to sea nor over 
us. Finally the storm passed au'ay south-west, towards Skye. 
Fain fell heavily about the head waters of our salmon river. 
Approaching from the south, Priest Island appears a rounded 
red-coloured lump of considerable elevation. It is composed of 
dark, red, hard, porphyritic looking hornblende (?) which we found 
great difficulty in breaking. 
The southern portion of the island rises to a height of two 
hundred feet, slopes, near the centre of the south aspect, to the 
south shore rapidly from the summit to the sea at an angle of 
rather le.ss than 45°, the bare rock showing prominently in large 
patches, or elsewhere covered by a close-set turf of sea-grasses and 
rock-plants. East and west of this abrupt slope the rock is more 
or less broken up into cliff face, or isolated rocks and lumps, with, 
here and there, little bits of boulder-strewn and water-rounded 
beach. Being dead calm a landing was easily effected at the foot 
of the steep slope ; and on such a day a landing could have been 
made, Ave believe, on almost any part of the island except sheer 
