134 THE BIRDS OF ION A AND MULL. 



used as manure here, so that the misguided birds might not 

 have been aware that they were committing a trespass, supposing 

 they were still within the sacred bounds of " below high water 

 mark," the property of great and small, that rich estate formed by 

 Waders of high and low degree. 



All the Wading birds take boldly to the water when wounded 

 and their retreat is cut off by land, but none so readily as the 

 Oyster-catcher. 



An Oyster-catcher — as if you had to run after an oyster to 

 catch it ! What an excitinsr race ! 



XX. 



The Cormorants, 



Here commonly called the Scart, which, like much of the Low 

 Country Scotch dialect, is a corruption of the Gaelic word 

 Scarbh. 



It is abundantly distributed along our shores and over the 

 surface of our seas. Both the Great Black Cormorant (Phala- 

 crocorax carlo) and the Lesser Green -crested Cormorant (P. 

 graculus) are found ; though the latter is the more plentiful of 

 the two. 



The caves of Staffa and of the neighbouring islets are 

 exclusively peopled by this kind ; while beneath the stupendous 

 cliffs of Bury and Gribun on the mainland of Mull the Black 

 Cormorant is found in great numbers, nesting and roosting 



