NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 59 



and nothing will be left but a heap of bones and large quantities 

 of shells to mark the spot. 



" We were taken to a green hillock situated a little to the 

 N.W. of Grogary, and between the " Machirs" and Drumore Loch. 

 It has evidently at one time been surrounded by a shallow lake, 

 now drained off by the elevation of the land. Our guide told us 

 this was another shell mound, and if dug into would prove quite 

 as rich in bones as the other." Other shell mounds were visited, 

 situated three miles from Nunton, Benbecula, and not far from 

 the sea. The portions of these mounds exposed by the winds are 

 rich in remains. " ^Ye picked up a considerable number of bone 

 needles and pieces of animals' bones. A large portion of a human 

 skeleton was also exposed. It appeared to be the remains of a 

 very tall man. The most interesting results were a well-carved 

 bone spoon and half of an elegantly-made bronze brooch. 



" Finding these vestiges of civilization in situ, side by side with 

 the cleaver and hatchet, the splintered bones and horn needles of 

 the pre-historic man, for a moment shook our faith in the antiquity 

 of the kitchen-middens, as on reflection it occurred to the author, 

 first, that the brooch and spoon might have been dropped in 

 comparatively recent times, (a supposition negatived by the position 

 in which they were found) ; second, that these articles, manufac- 

 tured by a more highlj^-civilized people in Britain or the Continent, 

 might have reached Long Island by accident or barter, just as 

 centuries hence an Esquimaux heap might contain relics of Kane's 

 or other expeditions." Captain Feilden, adverting to the friable 

 nature of the remains, recommended that visits should be paid 

 after storms, when the winds expose the interior of the mounds, 

 and diminish the risk of breakinsf the bones in disfoino;. 



It was ascertained that Eagles had not been at Wiay for many 

 years, the last female having been killed twenty years ago. Two 

 large flocks of Whimbrel were noted, this being an unusually late 

 date for them to linger on the coast of Britain. 



A visit to the old castle of the Clanranalds, now a quarter of a 

 mile from the shore, but once so near the water that seals were 

 shot from the windows, suggested to the author the probability of 

 a slow elevation being in progress over these islands. 



In the discussion which followed the readins; of this interesting 

 paper, Dr Dewar, Mr Gray, Dr Young and others took part. 

 The importance of the ornithological notes, and of the facts 



