The most numerous and noticeable birds about Loch Maree in the months of May, June, and July, are the black-backed gulls. They fly with great speed and apparently little effort. I have often endeavoured, watch in hand, to estimate the velocity of their flight, and I have come to the conclusion that in a calm atmosphere, or with a favourable breeze, they attain the speed of a quick train, viz., nearly fifty miles an hour. They breed on the islands of Loch Maree, and appear to have almost displaced the herring gulls, which used to be pretty numerous on the islands. Very few gulls now breed on Eilean Ruaridh Mor, though it seems from the following anecdote of Dr Mackenzie's that this island was a favourite gullery until the incident he relates occurred:—
"Some years ago it was observed that, without any visible reason, the gulls quite deserted Big Rorie's island for another at a little distance, till a shepherd, landing with his dog, found a pine-marten-cat in the island, mere skin and bone, and despatched him. How he had got to the island, half a mile from the mainland, and the water never frozen, no one could imagine; but though he may have lived well for a time on the gulls, there being nothing else to feed him on the island, unless a chance grouse or a roe, he soon made a desert of it, and would have died of hunger but for the collie who ended him."
Gairloch is not without examples of very rare birds, but those usually seen, though rare in many parts of the kingdom, are mostly the common birds of the Highlands. They are interesting enough to all,—to the lover of nature they are delightful; let the gunner spare them; let the bird-nester allow them to rear their young in peace. In the bright spring-time there is to my mind nothing sweeter than to listen on a calm evening to the sounds of the various birds that haunt the neighbourhood of Inveran. You may hear the whirring wings of the wild ducks, goosanders, and mergansers flitting up and down the Ewe; the sand-pipers, in great numbers, piping as they hurry along the river banks; the black-cocks crooning in the adjoining fields; the cock-grouse crowing on the moors close by; the rooks cawing all around; the wood-pigeon cooing in the neighbouring woods; the herons screaming on the margin of the water; the curlews whistling their weird call not far away; the night-jar humming his prolonged trill below Craig Tollie; the corncrake uttering its creaking note in the meadows and growing corn; the owl hooting from his tree or rock; the familiar cuckoo calling on all sides, near and far; a host of the smaller birds singing, chirping, and twittering around; whilst above them all the ravens croak, the grey crows screech, the sea-mews cry, and (sometimes) the wild geese gabble, high in air.
Observation of this teeming bird life has a wonderful fascination for many, and I can imagine no purer pleasure. Mr Alexander Cameron in his song about Tournaig ([Part II., chap. xxiii.]) notices some of the birds of Coile Aigeascaig; he must have often enjoyed their exquisite symphonies.
The insects which frequent the air are not all delightful. Some of the moths and butterflies, as well as the large dragon-flies (supposed by many to be the originals of our artificial salmon-flies), are beautiful enough. These abound more especially on the north-east side of Loch Maree, where limestone occurs. The flies that sting or bite force themselves upon our notice, and the tiny midge is the most obnoxious of them all. Wasps are rather plentiful in some seasons, but the midges are always in swarms on warm calm evenings from July to October. Even royalty can claim no immunity from their attacks! Her Majesty the Queen notes in the diary of her visit to Loch Maree, "the midges are dreadful, and you cannot stand for a moment without being stung;" and again, "there is a perfect plague of wasps, and we are obliged to have gauze nailed down to keep these insects out when the windows are open, which, as the climate is so hot, they have to be constantly."
A visitor to one of the hotels recorded his opinion of the midges thus:—
"I love Maree's soft rippling waves;
I love her mountain ridges;
I love her silver birken trees,—
But I detest her midges!"
It is a curious fact that prolonged residence in the country seems to render one slightly less liable to the attacks of these minute pests; but when they swarm on a calm evening in September, every one must give in, and cease all stationary occupation out of doors. Many different washes for the skin, aromatic and otherwise, are recommended, and some persons wear veils; but preventive measures are never wholly successful, and it is best to retreat before the little aggravating foe. How dreadful must have been the sufferings of the Rev. John Morrison, minister of Gairloch, when stripped naked, tied to a tree, and exposed to the attacks of the midges, at Letterewe, as related in [Part I., chap. xvi.]! With some people each particular midge bite inflames, and produces a small lump like a pea under the skin. Total abstinence for the time from alcohol, or at least from whisky, will generally mitigate this unpleasant result. If it be a midgy evening, choose if possible an exposed breezy road for your stroll, and you will escape the creatures. Fishing is out of the question if it be so calm that the midges are bad.
The stone-flies, gad-flies, or horse-flies, are very troublesome at times, but can easily be dealt with.