246 THE WILDS OF SUTHEKLAND. 



this sea-pigeon be ? If I could only get him to 

 give way on the carnation beak but catch him ! 



The breeze had lulled, but it was still from the 

 east. The two boatmen, therefore, were still un- 

 able to say whether we could round the outer 

 rocks of Handa until they cleared the farthest 

 mainland cape. They then began to shake their 

 heads, " There was ower great a swell to gang 

 within shot o' the cliffs, but we might try the 

 landlocked creek and bays first, an' maybe it wad 

 moderate by the evenin'." The calm water, too, 

 was best for " sea-pigeons " and stormy petrels. 



With slow pull the men crept -along the coast, 

 while, on rounding each peak into a fresh bay, 

 Macleod protested he had never " gaen ower sae 

 muckle water" without spying the mysterious 

 red-bill. At length my son asked for the tele- 

 scope, and on returning it carelessly remarked, 

 " There are a couple of black guillemots." Mac- 

 leod was alive in a moment " That's the sea- 

 pigeon." To satisfy him we rowed towards the 

 birds. One rose out of reach, and the other (a very 

 distant shot) was dropped by the JSTo. 4, its bill, to 

 our boatman's chagrin, black as ebony ! Unlike 



