Notes on Hysgeir, off Canna, and its Bird Life. 171 



up by tlie roll of the ocean waves, and. lodged amidst the 

 crannies or miniature voes which traverse the islands in differ- 

 ent directions, or piled up in some sheltered hollow or bay, 

 are heaps of rounded pebbles and boulders, from the size of 

 a walnut to several tons in weight, belonging to far different 

 formations than the basaltic bed on which they lie. To cata- 

 logue these erratics would have consumed our whole time. 

 Whilst I was wallowing in green rock pools, and creeping over 

 slippery ledges, mayhap my friend Heddle pursued the dryer 

 subject — dryer only in the superficial and visible sense, I 

 mean, for, without doubt, even a plain unvarnished list of 

 stones found on Hysgeir, off Canna, would afford much curious 

 and deeply suggestive matter for thought to Boulder Com- 

 mittees and geologists generally. In one or two places — 

 sheltered nooks and crannies — shell-sand had accumulated, 

 and even these small patches had their influence upon the 

 bird life, for over them lightly tripped the yellow feet of the 

 ringed plover, and the trill of an occasional dunlin told 

 me that this species also visited these barren rocks for food 

 if not for breeding purposes. All around the main island, 

 but more especially toward the west side, are numerous 

 skerries, sunken or tide-washed, and dangerous to ships or 

 fishing-boats. These stretch away nearly a mile and a half 

 to westward, and form an angry boiling caldron when 

 the swell comes in off the sea. Here and there amongst 

 their intricate channels, or reposing on the lower basalt 

 pillars, numerous Great Grey seals were seen at the time of 

 low -tide. 



On these outlying rocks there is no herbage, and on the 

 main island only a few small patches on the higher levels, 

 or dryer hollows, out of reach of the salt-sea brine. Such 

 grazing as there is, however, is wonderfully succulent and 

 nutritious, so much so that a certain number of cattle are 

 landed every year, which in a few weeks' time surpass in 

 condition the cattle of Canna itself, rich though the herbage 

 of that fair isle undoubtedly is. Curious to relate, near the 

 centre of the island and close to a rudely built cairn is a 

 spring of fairly good water from which both cows and men 

 can drink. Our ouide from Canna — Donald M'Isaac — drank 



