3 i4 LOCH CRERAN. 



or two only. Hens fight so desperately for their chick- 

 ens, and a gull is such a cowardly brute, that we could 

 not account for the foster mother's calm acceptance of 

 the situation, unless they were so aggravated at the deter- 

 mined partiality of the youngsters for the water, that they 

 resolved to let them " take it." We do not believe a 

 wild duck would have lost a bird under such circum- 

 stances, for we have seen a mother and fifteen youngsters 

 frequent the bay in front, undiminished in numbers until 

 all were quite large. 



It was a superlatively fine day as we tumbled into our 

 boat and prepared for a holiday to the Eilean Dhu a 

 day that comes once in a twelvemonth, with the tide just 

 right and the sea peacefully calm, and only a whiff in 

 our favour to cool the rowers and calm the exuberant 

 spirits of the excited youngsters ; for the boat is well 

 filled with " a mixed lot " as to size, and an equally 

 " mixed lot " as to provender. 



It ought to be too late for the bird world, as we have 

 delayed our visit too long ; but the season all round is 

 backward, and we are hopeful of showing to the rising 

 generation at least a rising generation of seafowl if 

 nothing else. In spite of the lesson they received 

 during the gales and high tides, the sandmartens are 

 busy on the sandbank at Shian, where they have perfor- 

 ated it afresh with their burrows, to take the place of 

 those flung ruthlessly into the sea. A ring plover crosses 

 with its sharp cry, and some one suggests a nest on the 

 gravel spit. Far too late in the year we assert positively, 

 as we have taken their nests in April : but our boatman 

 has a nest with young birds, and another with eggs, close 

 beside our home, so Sir Oracle is obliged to subside on 

 this occasion. The late spring has thrown everything 



