32 COLONSAY 



is of interest. Seals bask lazily in the sunshine on the 

 exposed reefs till the returning tide floats them off" again. 

 On the calm waters of Traigh-nam-Barc groups of Eiders may 

 be seen congregating some distance from the shore. As 

 these handsome birds often have their nests near the centre 

 of the island and on the verges of high precipices, it is 

 surmised that they carry their young, one by one, to the 

 sea soon after they are hatched. Standing in the shallow 

 waters of the Glen burn at the head of the bay, among 

 less conspicuous members of their kind, are a few of the 

 Great Black-Backed Gull (Dubh-Fhaoileann-Mhor). Shel- 

 drakes (Cra-gheadh), handsomer specimens than their more 

 domesticated brothers of the ornamental pond, anticipating 

 danger, are shifting uneasily about in the vicinity of the sand- 

 banks, in the rabbit-holes in which they often have their nests. 

 and lay a considerable number of eggs. Over mid-channel a 

 pair of visiting Gannets (Amsan) are going through swift, 

 lightning-like evolutions as they dive from a great height for 

 the fish beneath. Nearer shore the elegant Tern (Steirneal) 

 imitates on a lesser scale the performance of the Solan ; not 

 diving, however, but merely picking some delicate morsel off 

 the surface of the sea. Among the wrack-covered boulders at 

 the water's edge a Wild Duck affects the utmost incapacity 

 for rational movement, Avhich, as closer observation discovers, 

 is only a device to draw away attention from a sadly reduced 

 following of three ducklings, the remnant probably of a 

 former lively brood of ten or twelve, a convincing proof of 

 the rapacity of the voracious gulls. " Sandpipers " (Loirean 

 Traghadh) move briskly in search of insects along the sands, 

 and a pair of Oyster-Catchers (Bridein) manifest keen 

 displeasure at the presence of the intruder by a steady 

 volume of shrill and ear-piercing cries. Two dark-plumaged 

 specimens of the Lesser Skua (Fasgadair) are flying over 

 the promontory in search of fresh victims. They chase and 

 frighten the sea-gulls to make them disgorge their half- 



