33 2 
site of the inn, is owned by the Macphersons, of 
Cluny Castle, and the south by Sir John Rams- 
den, Bart., of Ardverikie. The Cluny estate, of 
some twelve thousand acres, was for many years 
leased as a summer residence by Andrew 
Carnegie, now of Skibo Castle in Sutherland- 
shire. Sir John Ramsden’s property consisted, 
at the time of my visit, of about 140,000 acres, 
divided into several estates, of which Ardverikie 
deer forest, 27,000 acres, was leased to Lord 
Iveagh, late Sir Edward Guinness, the Dublin 
brewer. The forest contains great numbers of 
both red and roe deer, hundreds of stags being 
often visible, with the aid of a spy-glass, on the 
shore of the loch from the windows of the inn. 
Ardverike House is a granite castellated 
mansion somewhat in the style of Balmoral 
Castle. Most of it is comparatively new, the 
original house, in which the,late Queen and 
Prince Albert spent their first autumn in the 
Highlands, having been burned in 1873. Con¬ 
nected with it are pleasing memories of Sir 
Edwin Landseer, who made here sketches for 
some of his most famous pictures. Many deer¬ 
stalking sketches by him on the walls of the 
summer house were lost in the same unfortunate 
fire. Tradition says that Sir Edwin painted, 
when a guest St Loch Laggan Inn, a black cock 
on the wall over the sitting room mantlepiece, 
which is still supposed to exist somewhere under 
the wallpaper. If the landlord of the time could 
have foreseen the almost fabulous prices after¬ 
ward obtained for some of Sir Edwin’s sketches, 
he would probably have saved himself the ex¬ 
pense of papering that wall. 
Belonging to the Ardverikie estate are two 
islets in the loch called respectively the Isle of 
the King and the Isle of the Dogs. Tradition 
connects them with Fergus, called the first of 
the Scottish kings, who seems to have occupied 
about as problematical a position in Scotland’s 
history as Odin in the annals of Scandinavia. 
Earlier in the season when looking upon his 
royal portrait, in the series of Scottish kings 
in the gallery at Holyrood Palace, inscribed 
“Rex Fergusins, B. C. 336,” I had been tempted 
to smile at the unhallowed remark of a bystander 
who wondered whether it was painted from life 
or from a contemporary photograph; but when 
thus brought into actual contact, as it were, 
with the scenes in which he moved I was led to 
the conclusion that blind faith is preferable to 
carping criticism in questions open to doubt, 
and 1 determined to accept King Fergus and all 
his anachronisms. That Her Majesty, the late 
Queen Victoria, was alike liberal-minded is 
proven by her planting with her own royal 
hands in King Fergus’ Isle a fir tree, shown 
to this day, to signify her belief in this con¬ 
temporary of Alexander of Macedon. 
Little save tradition remains to connect the 
isle with so distant a past. A partly fallen wall 
overrun with ivy is pointed out as the site of 
the monarch’s hunting lodge, and a curious 
stone causeway to the mainland, deep enough 
under water to escape the eye of a foe, is shown 
as a means of access to the island for those 
knowing its location. A mound on the mainland 
is said to mark the king’s grave. The Isle of 
the Dogs is supposed to have contained the 
royal kennels. 
Loch Laggan affords fair sport to the skilled 
angler who is “up” in the mysteries of fly-fish¬ 
ing. It contains an abundance of small trout 
from three to a pound to a pound in weight, and 
occasionally fish as heavy as a pound and a half 
and even two pounds are caught. The best 
baskets taken while I was there averaged from 
three to five dozen, and the best fish about 
one and a half pounds. The loch is said to con¬ 
tain also many larger fish of the salmonidie 
family (Salmo ferox ), of four to twelve pounds, 
but I did not have the pleasure of seeing any. 
A photograph of one taken the preceding sum¬ 
mer that weighed 14L2 pounds is exhibited at 
the inn. The Salmo ferox does not often rise to 
the fly, though it sometimes does, but is usually 
taken by trolling with the phantom minnow. It 
is a very game fish and furnishes exciting sport. 
With a long and strong line and a good boat¬ 
man an expert may succeed in landing one in 
an hour, but I am told that it often takes longer. 
From Goodspeed’s Catalogue. 
GOSHAWK. 
[March 2, 1907. 
fame. When a youth he caused himself to be 
let down from the top of the precipice by means 
of a rope held by others above, and succeeded 
in robbing the nests, notwithstanding the efforts 
of the birds, who made a strong fight. That 
they are no mean antagonists may be judged 
from the fact that one caught in a trap the 
summer before lhy visit measured seven feet | 
across the wings. This same ledge is depicted 
by Landseer in his picture called the “Eagle’s 
Nest,” now in the South Kensington Museum. 
The trout in Loch Cor Arder are small, ] 
averaging about six to the pound, but they rise j 
freely to the fly, and two or three are often 
caught at a time. I have known ten or twelve- 
dozen to be taken by a single rod in a few 
hours. The loch is little fished on account of its 
inaccessibility, requiring a long and wet tramp [ 
to reach it; but it is well worth a visit by any 
one who loves the picturesque and is satisfied 
with small fish. John Denison Champlin. 
- »/•?/ ■ //rr//•/?. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Flowing into Loch Laggan on the north 
shore is the Aberarder Burn, a small stream of 
clear cold water which often affords a good 
basket of small trout. It has its source about 
four miles from the loch, in a little loch called 
Cor (or Corrie) Arder, up among mountains 
1,500 feet above the sea. Cor Arder, which is 
only about a quarter of a mile wide, is sur¬ 
rounded, except on one side where the burn 
flows out, by precipitous cliffs 1,200 to 1,400 feet 
high, whose summits are usually covered with 
snow. 
About a hundred feet above the water are 
ledges frequented by golden eagles, who build 
their nests and rear their young there ap¬ 
parently safe from the depredations of man. But 
that animal instinct is generally at fault when 
opposed to human ingenuity was proved by 
Gordon Cumming, afterward famous in Africa 
as a lion hunter and a brother, by the way, of 
Sir William Gordon Cumming, of baccarat 
From “Audubon’s Birds of America.’’ 
STANLEY HAWK. 
