"These charming notes from the Western Highlands are truly fascinating.
Entering into the very spirit of the life and scenery by which he is
surrounded, Mr. Smith gives his readers the benefit of the vast and
out-of-the-way stores of information he has gathered in all branches of
natural history. Each month, as it passes, has a chapter devoted to all
its manifold changes and doings, and we get many glimpses of charming
excursions, not unmixed with danger, when overtaken by those sudden
climatic changes to which that grand wild mountainous coast is often
exposed. An enthusiastic naturalist, the writer does not ride his hobby
to death, but, like a true lover of Nature, his sketches are bright and
fresh, and full of vivid descriptions, interspersed with many curious
anecdotes and facts relating to both the animal and vegetable kingdoms.
No better or more instructive guide to the fauna and flora of the
Western Highlands could be had than Mr. Anderson Smith's most pleasant
book."--_Literary World._
"They will be well rewarded who follow Mr. Anderson Smith along the
sea-shore, the hill-side, or the trouting stream; they will find how
much a quiet and attentive eye can glean from a loving study of the
denizens of earth, air, and water. The book is provided with a good
index, and those who have not leisure or patience to read it through at
a sitting may dip where they please. Like Mr. Smith's dredge, they
hardly ever fail to bring up something of interest."--_Scotsman._
"Students of natural history who read _Benderloch_, by Mr. W. A. Smith,
will give a cordial welcome to _Loch Creran_, another and even more
attractive work by the same observant author. With the exception,
perhaps, of Mr. Jefferson, no living naturalist is gifted with a more
picturesque manner of depicting the habits of birds, beasts, and fishes
than is Mr. Smith.... Then what a vast fund of entertaining instruction
is gathered in these excursions; a royal road to natural history is laid
down by Mr. Smith, and the student follows it leisurely, culling
charming bits of zoological lore here and there. One never knows what a
new day may bring forth when accompanying Mr. Smith on his rambles....
There is, indeed, no end to the curious things observed by Mr. Smith. He
seems only to sleep at home, for, with his waterproof handy, he roams
about all day in the open air, and comes home at night with a
well-filled note-book.... The wealth of interesting matter in this
delightful volume is, however, tempting us beyond our space, and we
think we have collated enough to make all who love the country, its
sights and sounds, and health-giving breezes read the work
itself."--_Dundee Advertiser._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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