92 CONSERVATOR OF SURGEONS’ MUSEUM [ch. iv. 
beauty, amid which he wandered in the pursuit of 
knowledge of the habits and modes of life of his 
feathered friends, are often extremely fascinating, 
and all the more so when such scenes are enlivened 
by a solitary raven on its crag, or by a couple of 
sea eagles wheeling about on wing high above his 
hiding-place, or by flocks of sea birds of all varieties 
wandering over a flat sandy shore, with the sea far 
out on a bright sunny morning, in search of their 
early meal, or by a grey and yellow wagtail, as seen 
by him on the banks of the Braid Burn one summer 
day while walking along its course. 
“How pretty and pleasantly thou runnest,” he 
writes, “along the sandy margin of the brook. 
The pattering of thy tiny feet can be heard only by 
fairy ears; so light is thy tender frame, which 
vibrates as if thy joints were too delicate and thy 
muscles too sensitive for thee to fix them for 
a moment in rest. The gentle breeze, that scarce 
bends the young grass, curves the long feathers of 
thy tail, and the sudden blast sweeps thee away 
quivering and emitting thy shrill notes. ... It 
is pleasant to me to gaze upon thee, thou marvellous 
epitome of mind and matter, so harmoniously 
organised.” 
But every feathered creature, from the most 
powerful and relentless bird of prey to the smallest 
and most harmless of the race, attracted his 
sympathy as he found it in its native habitat and 
congenial surroundings. 
In his Natural History of Deeside the following 
