310 TOUR IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE. 



tains, would not only be ornamental but valuable additions 

 to our woods and hills ; nor can it be doubted that many of 

 these beautiful birds would do well and increase in this 

 climate, provided they were allowed for the first few years 

 to breed and multiply undisturbed. 



On considering the immense quantity of game and wild 

 fowl which is daily exposed in poulterers' shops throughout 

 the entire kingdom, the question naturally suggests itself, 

 " Will not these birds be soon extirpated?" But, to all appear- 

 ance, the supply continues amply to meet the demand year 

 after year. By the beneficent arrangement of Providence all 

 birds adapted for the food of man are far more prolific than 

 the birds of prey, or than sea-gulls and those other birds the 

 flesh cannot be eaten. 



The nesting places of sea-gulls and some other kinds of 

 water -fowl are curious things to see. The constant going to 

 and fro, the screaming, and wheeling about of the old birds 

 and the apparent confusion are perfectly wonderful. The 

 confusion is, however, only apparent. Each guillemot and 

 each razor-bill amongst the countless thousands flies straight 

 to her own single egg, regardless of the crowds of other birds, 

 and undeceived by the myriads of eggs which surround her. 

 So, also, in the breeding-places of the black-headed and other 

 gulls, every bird watches over and cares for her own nest 

 though the numbers are so great, and the tumult so ex- 

 cessive, that it is difficult to conceive how each gull can 

 distinguish her own spotted eggs, placed in the midst of so 

 many others, exactly similiar in size, shape, and colour ; and 

 when at length the young are hatched and are swimming 

 about on the loch, or crowded together on some grassy point, 

 the old birds, as they come home from a distance with food, 

 fly rapidly amidst thousands of young ones, exactly similar 

 to their own, without even looking at them, until they find 

 their own offspring, who, recognising their parents amongst all 

 the other birds, receive the morsel, without any of the other 

 hungry little creatures around attempting to dispute the 

 prize, each waiting patiently for it own parent, in perfect 

 confidence that its turn will come in due season. 



The breeding rocks of the solan geese, the Bass Rock in 

 the Firth of Forth and Ailsa Craig on the west, will well 

 repay the trouble of visiting them. Rows of the nests 

 thickly cover the ground ; and wild and wary as these birds 

 are at other times, during the breeding season they will not 



