Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/497

Rh had them in focus, and saw they were Golden Plover (Charadrius pluvialis) in breeding plumage, which interested me greatly, as it was the first of this species I had seen alive. They went about in pairs, sometimes coming quite close; I think they had young among the grass and heather. We next went to the edge of the cliffs to see the thousands of Puffins that are continually flying backward and forward. It is wonderful looking down from this great height at the never-ceasing stream of bird-life, all seeming to be in a great hurry about something. As we were leaving the northern cliffs I noticed an Eagle circling at a great height above the water; it settled on a rock on the edge of the cliff, and I had a good look at it with the glasses. From the description in Saunders' 'Manual,' and from the stuffed bird I saw at Loch Broom, I think it was a young White-tailed Eagle (Haliaëtus albicilla). I think there is nothing that gives more pleasure than to look on a species that one has often read about, but has never seen alive in the wild state. I had this pleasure a few times this year, but what must it be to discover a species new to science! The Great Black-backed Gulls also come to Canna, and Mr. Thorn, the owner of the island, tells me they sometimes attack the lambs, pecking out their eyes, and gouging into the brain. One he knew, which was kept in captivity, swallowed three Starlings, feathers and all, one after the other. I saw a pair of Peregrines in 1900, and I hear they still live unmolested in one of the cliffs.

One day I was talking to our skipper about Gannets (Sula bassana). He told me that one year, off the Isle of Man, he caught them in herring-nets twelve fathoms down—seventy-two feet is a big dive for a bird—and at Loch Strivin he has often obtained Guillemots (Uria troile) in the cod-nets thirty fathoms down.

I hope my few notes may be of some interest to ornithologists who intend spending their holidays in what I think is the most beautiful part of the British Isles.