138 JOTTINGS ABOUT BIRDS. 



sight presented by the young birds is a greater 

 temptation, then the trip shotdd be postponed until 

 July or early August. The town of North Berwick, 

 easily reached by rail from Edinburgh or the south, 

 should be made the base of operations. Three 

 miles from Berwick, along the shores of the Forth, 

 is Canty Bay, and here at the little inn nestling at 

 the bottom of the steej) grassy downs the tenant 

 who rents the Bass resides. Boats are usually in 

 readiness to carry visitors across the two miles of 

 sea which separate the Bass from the mainland; 

 but if it should chance that the tenant is already 

 away on the rock a signal is made — by spreading a 

 white table-cloth on the hill-side — which soon results 

 in his return. It might here be remarked, that the 

 Bass is a jealously guarded private property, and 

 that the birds thereon are kept literallv under lock 

 and key free from the molestation of trespassers. 

 The tenant — the host of the Canty Bay inn — looks 

 to make a considerable portion of his rent from the 

 eggs and young birds, and also from the rabbits 

 which overrun the rock. There is only one safe 

 landing-place on the Bass, on the southern side 

 where the cliffs flill to the water's edge in a series of 

 downs. Here the ruins of an old fortress have 

 been utilized to protect the rock from the visits of 



