VIII. 



Iona, 10 th April 1852. 



The Eock Dove (Columba livia). 



The Wood Pigeon is unknown upon our rocky woodless shores, 

 but its absence is compensated for by great numbers of a smaller 

 species — the Rock Dove. 



The granite cliffs on the south of Mull, the basaltic crags of 

 Staffa, and lofty precipices of trap rock upon the adjacent islands, 

 are all perforated by innumerable caverns of every imaginable 

 size and shape, from the well-known majestic Hall of Fingal, 

 resounding with the sullen booming of ever-rolling waves, down 

 to the little fairy grotto, whose cool white shell-sand is scarce 

 dimpled by the sparkling ripples of the sheltered sea. Some of 

 these caves are grand and of lofty dimensions, with no floor but 

 the deep blue water, which heaves to and fro through their huge 

 frowning portals ; others are romantic and picturesque, their rocks 

 covered with many-coloured lichens, and their dark apertures 

 fringed with shaggy heather and ivy, amongst which is browsing 

 a wild mountain goat, with huge horns and beard. But many 

 more of these caverns are horribly gloomy and forbidding — deep 

 black dens extending far beyond the reach of the light of day, 

 stretching into the very bowels of the adamantine cliff. The air 

 smells dank and foul, and the walls are dripping with unwhole- 

 some slime. It is dangerous to explore them further without 



