yS CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



Tobermorry. I found the inmates of this hotel to com- 

 prise Mr. Malcolm McRae — a fine well-set-up type 

 of a Scotchman — his good wife, and three charming 

 nieces, the Misses Leeds, who assisted their uncle 

 and aunt in all household duties, as the times were 

 not sufficiently good to warrant the expense of a 

 large staff of servants. I can honestly say that I 

 never met with kinder-hearted people in my life, or 

 people that did more to make you feel comfortable 

 and at home ; nor have I often been at a more 

 prettily situated hotel, the windows of which looked 

 out upon the placid waters of the Sound of Mull — 

 enlivened as it was by numerous pleasure-steamers 

 and sailing-craft of all kinds plying backwards and 

 forwards. 



Soon after my arrival I received word from the 

 Duke's keeper that his under-keeper, Peter, had 

 located a Peregrine's eyrie in the Gribun 

 (pronounced Greebun) cliffs, about lo miles from 

 Salen Hotel. These celebrated rocks, which 

 constitute one of the points of interest for visitors, 

 are of a very curious sort of formation of what is 

 called "friable rock." They are from 700 to 800 

 feet above sea-level, their base sloping at an angle 

 of 45 degrees, and the last few hundred feet sheer 

 precipice, rather overhanging in character. They 

 lie on the direct road to lona. 



The under-keeper's report was that the hen was 

 sitting hard, and, therefore, the business would 

 admit of no delay, because one could not be quite 

 sure how soon the young birds would hatch out, 



