96 A bout the Feathered Folk. 



beside their nests, every available 

 spot of perching ground is occupied 

 and this for the distance of a mile 

 or two. If startled by a gun-shot (a 

 very rare occurrence, for the laird of 

 Canna shows the kindest courtesy to 

 his feathered tenants), they will rise 

 in a cloud so dense as to darken the 

 sky, and, with a clamour that is 

 deafening, they will come beating 

 about the head of the spectator as if 

 wholly regardless of his presence : 

 one might almost touch them with 

 the outstretched hand as they sweep 

 past. 



It is late in the summer, when the 

 nestlings are all fledged and able to 

 .shift for themselves, that peace again 

 descends upon the cliffs. 



In the quiet of some creek, where 

 the grey basalt pillars rise in serried 

 rows out of the throbbing water, 

 one may see a family of Sheldrakes 

 paddling slowly about, the showy 

 plumage of the drake black, white, 



