CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 53 



to fill the sail ; so it took us a long time to 

 get out to this island, a distance of five good 

 miles. 



The boatmen were able to land me as the 

 ground swell was only slight. I then had to climb up 

 the jagged rocks, some 200 feet or so, till I got to 

 the top ; this I managed to do with the aid of the 

 boatmen, and found a sort of gorge with precipitous 

 cliffs on either side, on one of which were these 

 birds. Well, of course, it does not require much 

 skill to shoot a Gull, so it will suffice to say that I 

 got as many as I wanted ; and in regard to eggs, 

 I obtained them through the agency of a native of 

 the Island of Mull. 



Whilst touching on the subject of gathering a few 

 eggs for museum purposes, it would be as well to 

 mention that the natives, principally the boys, that live 

 in the islands off the west coast of Scotland, make a 

 common practice, whenever they can get hold of a 

 boat, of visiting all islands where sea-birds are 

 breeding, for the purpose of depleting what nests 

 they find of their eggs. When trout fishing at Loch 

 Boisdale, in South Uist, the lessee, Mr. Simon 

 Mackenzie, was often subjected to much incon- 

 venience and annoyance in consequence of these 

 boys taking his trout fishing boats from their 

 moorings and using them for collecting sea-birds 

 eggs ; as the boats very often got a good deal 

 damaged by the rough treatment they received at 

 the hands of these ignorant lads. The fact was well 

 known to all the visitors. 



