216 THE BIRDS OF IONA AND MULL. 



The Ring <)usl:l. 



Though I never procured a specimen, " the Ion dubh, with a white 

 ring round his neck," was recognised by the description as common in 

 Mull. 



The Wheatear. 



This welcome pretty harbinger of spring and fine weather pene- 

 trates to all the islands that I have visited. I have found its nest in 

 the vestibule of a stormy petrel's habitation, being within the enlarged 

 mouth of its burrow, on the little spray-swept islet of Soay, near Iona. 

 On the larger islands it is seen flitting about the sheep pastures from 

 one stone dyke to another, often making its nest in the interstices of 

 the rough stone fank, or enclosure into which the wild hill sheep are 

 driven at shearing time. In my boyish days the wheatear was in great 

 demand in Sussex for the table, where it was served up on fried vine 

 leaves, under the name of the English ortalan. It was captured by the 

 Southdown shepherds in traps, formed by very neatly cutting out an 

 oblong wedge of turf, leaving a deep trench about twelve inches by six, 

 across which is stuck a bit of stick, like a butcher's skewer, supporting 

 two horse-hair nooses. The turf is then laid with its grassy side down- 

 wards across the trench, leaving an aperture at each end uncovered, into 

 which the confiding wheatear is expected to hop while searching for a nest- 

 ing place, or seeking shelter from a passing shower, and so get entangled in 

 the treacherous nooses. These traps were cut about ten yards from each 

 other in continuous lines, stretching miles over the undulating Downs, 

 so that the shepherd when taking his daily rounds had only to lift the 

 turf slightly to discover whether there was any capture. At the end 

 of the season the inverted turf was replaced, leaving scarcely a mark 

 on the pasture. In this way great quantities were taken and brought 

 to market at a shilling a dozen. This practice seems to be discontinued, 

 as I now see no such traps where they used to be so common about 

 Beachy Head. 



meant the elk, the extinction of which must have been a severe loss to fion or 

 "deer-eaters" — the name being derived from fiadh dhuinne, "wild man" or 

 "wild deer men " (the dh is mute in both words), so descriptive of a savage man 

 subsisting by the chase, such as were the original Fenians. 



