THE BIRDS OF IONA AND MULL. 21: 



Tiik Common Harrier. 



The harrier is common, except at breeding time, when he probably 

 retires to the inland hills ; at all other times he may be met with 

 hunting along the low land skirting the shores. I have observed that 

 one will sometimes take the same line of country for several days, 

 following the same course, and about the same hour. Acting upon 

 this observation I have waylaid them, or rather put myself in the 

 expected line of flight, as no strategy is necessary, and have been more 

 than once rewarded by so cutting off the depradator of chicken yards, 

 or at least of seeing him go by. The ring-tail, or white rump, which 

 gives name to the female, is a very conspicuous feature as she flies past. 

 She gives the idea of a much heavier bird than the male. The male is 

 a very pretty bird, and is commonly called here the white hawk. One 

 windy day 1 let one pass me on the sea-shore, mistaking it for a sea- 

 gull ; a number of the small common gulls were flying and hovering 

 about, and the colour of the plumage and black-tipped wings were so 

 similar, that only the different mode of flight suddenly awakened me 

 to the fact that I had allowed a " white hawk " to escape. 



The White Owl. 



A stray specimen is seen or shot from time to time on the mainland 

 of Mull. Though we have a venerable ruined belfry and a moon in 

 Iona, we have no owl to live in the one, or "mope her melancholy" at 

 the other; but we kept one, captured in Mull, for some time in the 

 garden, which became pretty tame, and afforded some amusement by 

 the consternation his presence occasioned to the small birds, though he 

 lived in the seclusion and shade of a thick bush. 1 



The Short-eared Owl. 



Is found among the long heather on the moors of Mull, but I never 

 got its nest. 



1 The nearest place I have found the white owl's nesting place was a hole in 

 the haunch of the one-arched bridge which connects the island of Saog'hail (the 

 world) with the mainland of Lorn and the rest of the world ! 



