JUNE, 1883. 317 



the island, and these seem to have taken their departure 

 in disgust We regret this result sincerely, as these are 

 about the only haunts of the sheldrake inside Mull that 

 we know of, and this noble duck is becoming scarce. 

 The grey crow's passion for eggs is excessive, and doubt- 

 less it is the only way it can obtain an easy and luxurious 

 living at this time. We are surprised to see scarcely any 

 terns about, as these birds claim a certain portion of the 

 island as their nesting-place, and they should now be in 

 full fling, seeing they succeed the gulls. We come upon 

 one nest with eggs all cold, and begin to suspect that 

 these rascally grey crows have driven away the dainty 

 terns for fear of their nests being robbed like the ducks. 

 We do not recollect of seeing anywhere such destruction 

 of eggs, and two pair of crows are flying overhead to 

 account for it. 



First one skeleton, then a second and a third picked 

 clean, tell of the presence of the peregrine in the isle, 

 although we have only seen a kestrel dash away from the 

 face of the cliff. On examination we find that the Blue 

 Hawk has actually been living upon Razorbills for some 

 time back, as at least half-a-dozen of these birds have 

 been eaten by them. We did not think in the first place 

 that a peregrine could readily capture a " dooker," nor 

 in the second that he would condescend, except in 

 extremity, to eat such fishy birds. 



They are gathering round the potato pot, and all tell- 

 ing at once of the wonders they have seen. We 

 don't recollect getting a butterfly in the island, but 

 moths are plentiful and elegant. The large clouded 

 buff with its beautiful marking and brilliant edging goes 

 dancing over the brackens; the six-spotted burnet in 

 black and crimson is poised in conscious splendour on 



