THE WILDS OF SUTHERLAND. 247 



many of his superiors in birth and culture, this 

 poor Highlander's radiant freak of fancy was, 1 

 am convinced, neither premeditated nor wilful. 



As the surf, in place of abating, was coming 

 in stronger, we gave up all hope of circling the 

 island. A landing on it was easily made, and we 

 proceeded to the erne's rock. The alarm shot only 

 brought out some rock-birds, but the eagle, as 

 Macleod suspected, had forsaken her eyrie. A 

 pair of peregrines used to nestle in the next cliff, 

 but they also had deserted their stronghold. 



Man's persecution of these birds of prey must 

 have been constant and keen ere they could be 

 induced to desert spring quarters so abundantly 

 supplied with food for their nestlings. Within 

 shot were tier on tier and rank on rank of razor- 

 bills, guillemots, coulter-nebs, ranged like the de- 

 fenders of a beleaguered fortress. The crest of one 

 stack of detached rock rising abruptly from old 

 ocean had never been trodden by human foot. 

 Sunning themselves on this turf, a colony of lesser 

 black-backed gulls lay, or rolled about, in heed- 

 less, conscious security. On the sides were thou- 

 sands of cliff-birds so shockingly tame that 1 



