ROCK-PIGEONS AT D URN ESS. 57 



great height -I should say about three hundred feet ; in 

 others they are worn into numerous fantastic shapes and 

 caverns by the action of the waves. 



Although the wind had now fallen, the swell was tremen- 

 dous, dashing the spray half-way up the rocks. It was a 

 curious sight to see the rock-pigeons flying rapidly into the 

 caves, sometimes dashing like lightning through the very 

 spray of the breakers, scarcely topping the crests of the 

 waves, which roared and raged through the narrow caverns 

 where these beautiful birds breed. The rock-pigeons were 

 very numerous here, and constantly flying between their 

 wild but secure breeding-places and the small fields about 

 Durness. I shot a few of them, and found their crops full of 

 green food, such as clover, the leaves of 'the oat, &c, ; a 

 number of small shells were also in the crop of every bird. 

 The rock-pigeon is a very beautifully shaped little bird, 

 rather smaller and shorter than the common house pigeon, of 

 which it is plainly the original stock. They seem very rest- 

 less, seldom remaining long in one field, but constantly rising 

 and flitting away to some other feeding ground, with an un- 

 certain kind of flight ; but when alarmed, or going straight 

 home, they fly with very great rapidity. They are easily 

 tamed when caught young. The eggs seem very difficult to 

 get at ; nothing but a ladder will enable a person to reach 

 trjem, and it is almost impossible either to procure such a 

 ladder, or if procured, to carry it to the caverns where they 

 breed. 



There were two or three beautiful wild flowers near Dur- 

 ness which I had not seen before. They grew on the short 

 grass that covers the summit of the cliffs. I picked up, 

 while wandering about there, some of the small land shells 

 with yellow and black stripes (Helix nemoralis), exactly 

 similar to those which, when a child, I used to find on the 

 South Downs, near Brighton. The rocky headlands jutting 

 into the sea near Durness are very bold and abrupt. While 

 looking for rock-pigeons I saw a few of the red-legged 

 crow, or Cornish chough, passing from rock to rock, and 

 busily employed about the broken stones searching for 

 food. 



From Durness to Khiconnich is about fourteen miles of 

 hilly road, passing through the same description of rocky 

 country, abounding in wild cats, martens, and other animals 

 of prey. There is a loch about two miles from Durness, 



