CRUISE IN LOCH FYNE, JUNE, 189r^: 367 



proceeded from Craigmore by the Garroch Head to Skipness, 

 where we lay for the night. Off the Cock of Arran we noticed, 

 in passing, a flock of Gulls with a few rock -birds among them, 

 the whole of them apparently greatly excited, the Kittiwakes 

 (Missa tridactyla (Linn.) ), whenever they were a foot or two above 

 the surface of the water, folding their wings and plunging 

 incontinently back, becoming for a few seconds completely 

 immersed, while the larger Gulls contented themselves with 

 harassing their more active congeners, and attempting to rob 

 them of part of their prey. On arrival at Skipness we went 

 ashore, and visited the remains of the Priory there. Within the 

 walls of the church, and placed in a crevice, a Mistle -Thrush 

 {Turdus viscivorus, Linn.) was sitting upon newly-hatched 

 young. She remained sitting in full view of all our party for 

 two or three minutes. This is quite a notable site for the 

 Mistle-Thrush to occupy. About Skipness Castle we found no 

 Swifts, but any deficiency in this respect was compensated for 

 by the Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris, Linn.), of which two or 

 three hundred were roosting in a clump of Rhododendrons. Mr. 

 Robertson saw a Woodcock {Scolopax rusticola, Linn.) before 

 we left. Next morning we went ashore early to do some 

 photographing and explore one of the glens. Leaving the 

 photographers about the Castle and Priory, we took a turn 

 through the glen at the Castle. Here we saw a Roe-deer 

 iCapreolus caprea, Bell). Reaching the road where it crosses 

 the stream, and following it for a quarter of a mile, we were 

 pleased to find, in a wood skirting one side of the road, several 

 Tree-Pipits {Anthus trivialis, Linn.) in song, and Lesser Red- 

 polls (Linota rufescens (Vieill.) ) passed overhead twice. On the 

 moor-ground, just above the cultivated land, we found the 

 Whinchat {Pratincola ruhetra (Linn.) ), the only time we saw it 

 during our trip. Getting aboard and under weigh, we were 

 soon at the Skate, or Sgat Mohr, a rocky islet on the east side of 

 Loch Fyne. Here we found four nests of the Red-breasted 

 Merganser (Mergus serrator, Linn.) placed among rushes and old 

 clumps of Brake-ferns, containing respectively eight, nine, and, two 

 of them, ten eggs. One of the nests was placed under a clump of 

 old brakes that had been blown over by the wind, forming a 

 natural cushion, under the shelter of which the nest was placed, 



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