SPORT OF BUTE. 107 



them. To obviate this, I have lately adopted the 

 plan of setting two circles of twigs, out of sight of 

 each other, and putting half the young in one 

 circle and half in the other. Should an old bird 

 be trapped, I change the young to a fresh circle 

 of boughs a little way off. The surviving old bird 

 will readily come to the fresh-set circle, although 

 nothing would induce it to risk itself where it 

 saw its helpmate so mysteriously in grief. I have 

 in contemplation a trap for winged vermin which 

 will quite supersede the iron one and circle of 

 twigs. If my plan matures, from its open ap- 

 pearance, the most shy birds will venture on this 

 trap ; and when they do, escape is impossible. 



The familiar kestrel is equally well distributed 

 in Bute as on the mainland. Distinct in manners 

 and habits from, both the falcons and hawks, this 

 bird is no less perfectly endowed for the part 

 assigned to it by Nature's law. Anchored in the 

 air by that power of wing peculiar to this day owl, 

 it plies the trade of mouse-hunting alike on the 

 heathery hill or the cultivated field. Mice being 

 most rife in the dusk, the kestrel is the latest 

 hunter of the hawks, and is of course gifted with 



