368 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



Other two were placed within a couple of feet of each other, 

 under the same clump of withered brakes. The Wood-rush 

 (Luzula maxima, DC.) grows luxuriantly on some of the islets in 

 Loch Fyne, and we found its leaves favoured by the Red- 

 breasted Merganser for constructing its nest, a material said to 

 be used invariably by the Golden Eagle for this purpose. On 

 Sgat Mohr we also found a few pairs of each of the following 

 species nesting : — The Rock-Pipit (A7ithus obscurus (Latham) ), 

 Oyster-catcher {Iloimatopus ostralegus, Linn.) ; Common Gull 

 (Larus canus, Linn.), Common Tern (Sterna flumatilis, Naum.), 

 and or Arctic Tern {Sterna macrura, Naum.). Besides the 

 species named, the only bird seen was a Red Grouse, but when 

 flushed it quickly crossed to the mainland. There were many 

 rat-holes in this island, and the presence of this species in numbers 

 would perhaps account for the paucity of Terns nesting here com- 

 pared with some of the other islets visited later. Indeed, the 

 first Tern's egg we found was an empty one under a large stone, 

 to which place it had doubtless been brought by a rat. 



But a short distance from Sgat Mohr lies Eilean Buidhe — an 

 islet which presented a very animated appearance from the Terns 

 and Gulls which rose in great numbers as we approached. 

 Of Terns' nests very many were seen, about seventy pairs 

 probably nesting here. A great variety of situation was 

 chosen, but most of the nests were found where the 

 rock was pretty bare, just allowing sufficient earth and 

 vegetation in a little hollow as a bedding. When these 

 conditions were not complete and a bare hollow in the rock 

 was available, the deficiency was generally supplied by various 

 means. The Sea-Pink (Armeria vulgaris, Willd.) and the Orange- 

 stain Lichen were the only plants enlivening some of the grey 

 rocks, and in several cases the flowers of the former were largely 

 used as a bedding for the eggs. In one instance a hollow was 

 filled up with these flower-heads exclusively, and an egg laid 

 thereon. In this case we carefully removed the eggs and counted 

 the flowers, to find that over two hundred and twenty had been 

 used. This nest, with its egg, in the bright sunlight, was an 

 object of great beauty. [PI. XL] We were unable to satisfy 

 ourselves as to the proportions of the two species of Tern here; 

 Mr. Robertson thinks, however, that there were but few Arctic 



