AUGUST, 1882. 



the slightest sound is carried readily across the water. 

 Suddenly we are startled by regular splashing from the 

 direction of the sea-surrounded cairn, and conclude that 

 the seals are at their games again, although we have seen 

 but few of them about recently, since rifle balls from 

 youngsters " on the rampage " have been ricochetting too 

 freely over the waters. But the steady regularity of the 

 sound demands another explanation, when we discover 

 that the cattle, usually browsing on the little rocky islet 

 in front, have remained so long at their posts that they 

 are obliged to walk along the narrow ridge towards the 

 shore, quite shoulder high in the water, while the accom- 

 panying calves have little but their uplifted heads out of 

 the water. Had the water been rough the feat would 

 have been almost impossible to the calves, and only habit 

 could have bred the confidence and self-reliance necessary 

 to induce them to attempt such a passage homewards 

 unbidden. A strange, weird, and picturesque sight did 

 they appear as they passed in single file shoreward through 

 the water. 



The islands of Loch Linnhe are now quite cleared of 

 their vociferous inhabitants, with the exception of a 

 scattering of lesser black-backed gulls. These have still 

 a few young, half or three-quarters grown, and, as the 

 boat approaches, the young birds start swimming seawards 

 in another direction. The terns, nesting latest of all, 

 were last week nearly over with their summer labours, 

 although a young one still fluttered into the water from 

 the rocks on our approach, while overhead the screech- 

 ing parents circled, except when their silence was enforced 

 by the mouthful they were bearing to their young. This 

 provender proved as usual to be herring sile, about 2 

 inches long, showing that these fish must spawn in the 



