THE BIRDS OF IONA AND MULL. 237 



self ;i sportsman." I may lay claim to the title of having shot a good 

 many more than the requisite half-dozen of each kind, but most espe- 

 cially in the article of curlew, as I seldom returned home in the evening 

 without a pair. Whether from the difficulty of procuring them, or the 

 excellent appetite acquired in the pursuit, we thought them very good 

 eating, which reminds me of an old English rhyme — 



" A curlew, be she white, be she black, 

 >She carries twelve pence on her back," 



which I suppose was the market price of the bird in old days. The 

 difference of colour, I suppose, is only the darker hue of the old, longer- 

 billed birds to that of the younger and lighter-coloured individuals. 



The Whimbrel. 

 Gaelic, Guilbinnach. 



This bird, though so similar to the last in appearance, is totally 

 different in habits. It is a migratory bird, and only visiting us during 

 the month of May, arriving very early, generally the 1st, and remaining 

 till the very last, during which time they are abundant, and may be 

 killed without difficulty, as they are tame and unsuspicious. 



When the wintry storms have at last done roaring, and the sea is still 

 and peaceful, and the air genial, then the peculiar and unusual call of the 

 whimbrel announces the fact that summer is nigh. Its call consists of 

 several rapidly-repeated, clear, short whistles, about seven times uttered 

 in rapid succession, which has given it the English local name of the 

 "seven whistler." This cry is uttered as the flocks are flying to and 

 fro, high in the air, before alighting on the grass-covered sandy levels, 

 enamelled at this time of year with wild hyacinths and blue-bells, which 

 skirt a considerable portion of the shores of lona, the undulations of 

 which afford shelter enough for approaching them. A flock of some 

 thirty or forty birds scattered over the green tui-f form a very alluring 

 sight, and their comparative heedlessness makes them an easy prey to 

 one accustomed to circumvent the jealous curlew. They are good eating, 

 and in very good condition, as if their migratory journey had not been 

 at all a harassing one. This is only a temporary halt on their journey 

 further north, and they gradually disappear, till, after the end of May, 

 they are all gone, and only an occasional whistle is heard of a single 

 straggler afterwards. This is not a place of call on the southerly 



