166 THE BIRDS OF IONA AND MULL. 



by the shallow, muddy loch-head. The banks are perpendicular 

 crags, clothed with lichen and moss. So narrow is the inter- 

 vening thread of water in one place, so high and abrupt the 

 opposite cliffs, that it looks as if you could almost jump across. 

 On surmounting one more brown heathery wave, we come in sight 

 of a great gulf, apparently the open sea ; but really it is the last 

 and largest reach of the loch. In the distance the land again 

 closes in, leaving only a narrow opening and thread of water 

 communicating with the ocean. Beyond this the hazy outline of 

 blue-grey Islay — Ila gorm glas — and above us the eternal Paps, 

 frowning from under a deep veil of rolling cloud. 



About a quarter of a mile out from the cliff on which we stood 

 was a group of skerries, or small tide rocks, embossing the surface 

 of the water. Here we threw ourselves on the heather some 

 seventy feet above the level of the water at our feet. The 

 keeper, who accompanied us, produced his glass, and, after a few 

 moments' sweep of the surface of the loch, simply said " Sealchs," 

 and handed the glass to my companion. When it came to my 

 turn to examine the spot indicated, I saw a herd of some two 

 dozen Seals lying in every possible attitude of lazy ease upon two 

 little skerries, the nearest one about a third or a quarter of a 

 mile off shore. Suddenly my attention was arrested by some- 

 thing peculiar ; and though I had only seen drawings, and was 

 not in the least on the look-out for such a thing, yet I at once 

 felt sure that I beheld two Harp Seals ! Sure enough a pair of 

 Harp Seals lay upon that rock, and a third one on another islet 

 half a mile to the left. 



This animal is an inhabitant of Greenland. The instances of 



