106 LOCH C RE RAN. 



sweep, and only the very back ends of one or two left to 

 show where they once had been, for the sea has cut the 

 bank away for several feet back. The boat circles round 

 the stony point into the still more exposed bay of 

 Ardtinny, and our attention is too much occupied with 

 the force and direction of the wind, and whether we shall 

 risk a more extended journey with that threatened storm 

 held over us, to see all that has taken place of late. 

 What of those sand cliffs riddled with rabbit warrens, 

 and that other great bank, that was little but a cliff, 

 turned into a thicket with bushes and brambles? All 

 completely cut away ; and if poor, little fudfud were at 

 home, the whole colony must be buried under the tons 

 of sand, and gravel, and the bushes that have fallen en 

 masse into the sea, when the foundation was undermined 

 by the lash of the waves. What consolation could it be 

 to the most philosophical rabbit to think that he is to be 

 unrocked by some very post-diluvian geologist beside 

 himself with joy at discovering such a rich find of 

 skeletons in the Old Red Sandstone of the period? 

 Meantime, if the rabbits have really perished as com- 

 pletely as their warren, it will be a lucky wind for the 

 neighbouring farmers. 



"The world belongs to him that can wait," but when 

 you have to wait three months for a calm day at low tide, 

 a few years more or less must appear of little consequence 

 when attending mightier eventualities. It has come at 

 length this morning, with a light frost and no breeze, and 

 we quite hopefully watched the darkening shore creep 

 seaward, and the active figures of the oyster catchers 

 follow the water-line, while the voices of curlews receded 

 further and further from the door. Quite an unaccustomed 

 appearance has the loch in front to-day, for the eye has 



