26 LOCH CRERAN. 



astray by some shoal of herring which passed through 

 the large-meshed net. 



See the bird of the hawk tribe hovering over the 

 highest point of the island there, and occasionally stoop- 

 ing, but hitherto unsuccessfully ! It is apparently a kes- 

 tral from its movements, and we watch it as it scarcely 

 moves a wing while we thread the long passage and cross 

 the loch nothing but an occasional flutter all the time. 

 Gently, now, for the tide is low ; and we run the keel on 

 the rough gravel beach. What a rush of dancing petti- 

 coats through the heath of the island as the crowberries 

 and blaeberries attract the eyes of the young, and the 

 saffron butterflies, which are to-day the prevailing species, 

 skip away before the advancing cap. On our last visit 

 the little blue butterfly was the most common, but now 

 it has been replaced, although the blue is still common 

 on the neighbouring Lismore. We hear the grasshoppers 

 chirping, and see the " old men " leaping among the 

 heath for the first time this season ; for they " love the 

 merry, merry sunshine," and do not seemingly make 

 their appearance at all in the muggy weather we have 

 experienced. We want a young black-backed gull, and 

 notice is given accordingly ; but the minds of all are dis- 

 tracted by the many novelties and beauties. A great 

 group of seals are lying on an outlying rock, looking like 

 grey lichen, as the sun has dried them ; they plunge into 

 the water of the narrow strait, and again crawl awkwardly 

 with jerky movements, up the black rocks quite a dozen 

 of the huge fellows. We look in vain for mushrooms 

 where they used to be, but as we are seeking for them 

 we come upon the nests of the terns in multitudes, at 

 the verge of the cliffs and along the ledges of the rocks. 

 Just a little cup-shaped depression in the grass or moss, 



