142 PRACTICAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



yellow iris, whose light green leaves are scarcely yet long 

 enough to conceal it ; and now bursts from the summit of that 

 moss-clad crag, projecting from the granite vein, the mellow 

 song of the ever-welcome Thrush. 



Here on the shore the rocks are clad with a profusion of 

 scurvy-grass, rose-root, and beautiful tufts of sea-pink. Flocks 

 of llock Doves, mixed with Starlings, issue from the coves at 

 the base of the tall cliff, which seems to frown in scorn on the 

 sullen waves that in vain strive to scale its sides, as they rush 

 gloomily in from the Atlantic. The sun now shoots its bright 

 beams across the shelves of the gneiss rock ; having reached 

 the margin of which, let us ascend some hundred yards, and 

 cast our eyes over the wide waste of waters. Far away in the 

 north-west are the dimly-discovered hummocks named the 

 Flannan Isles ; nearer is the rock of Gaskir, the resort of 

 multitudes of seals ; and still nearer, though yet many miles 

 distant, the little group of the Glorik Rocks, on which thou- 

 sands of Gulls and Terns rear their young, usually in security, 

 though sometimes plundered by the prowling crew of one of 

 the few boats that venture far upon those desolate seas, where 

 the sight of a ship is a phenomenon that calls forth the admi- 

 ration of the shepherd, as he rests by the mountain cairn. The 

 frolicsome lambkins chase each other around their dams that 

 are quietly grazing among the heath. See, here is a skin, 

 with the skull and legs appended, — all that has been left by 

 some hungry polecat or raven. Take care, good pupil, for 

 being literally on the brink of a precipice, with about a hun- 

 dred feet below you the nest of an Eagle, which is itself at 

 least four hundred feet from the water, should you slip, you 

 will spoil our sport. 



Surely this heap of stones must be artificial, and yet of 

 what use can it be ? That you will find out presently, but in 

 the meantime pull from its side the bunch of heather and get 

 in, while I expose the dead sheep that has been left here on 

 purpose. Now, good pupil, here we are, in the bosom of 

 mother earth ; sit thee down, put thy gun in trim, rest its 

 muzzle on the edge of that hole, point it at the dead sheep, 



