Wanderings of a Naturalist 



and fed right out on to the grassy plateau where the colony 

 of gulls were nesting. Through the night, or very early in 

 the morning, the cattle must have discovered the hiding-tent, 

 and with that love of destruction so characteristic of them, 

 proceeded to raze the curious object to the ground. In the 

 morning, on coming in sight of the nesting ground, we were 

 surprised to see nothing of our hide-tent, and on reaching 

 the spot found it flat on the ground and badly knocked about. 

 But a more distressing event — one of the bullocks had been 

 lying actually on the nest, and the two eggs, very near hatch- 

 ing, were hopelessly crushed. 



This unfortunate occurrence was a sad blow to us, and 

 we decided that it would be inadvisable to attempt to erect 

 the hiding-tent anywhere on the plateau so long as the cattle 

 were in the vicinity. 



Through the glass I could make out a greater black back 

 brooding on her nest half-way up the hill near the middle 

 of the island, and nearly a mile distant. Marking the spot, 

 we repaired and carried off the hide, and on reaching the hill 

 had little difficulty in finding the nest, which contained two 

 ^%gs, one of them just chipping. From this nest, about 

 300 feet above sea level, a grand view met the eye this clear 

 and sunny July day. A fresh north-easter ruffled the waters 

 of the Atlantic, and from the sea, sparkling in the sunlight, 

 many islands rose. One saw, away eastwards, the great 

 Island of Mull with its hills, chief among them Ben Mor, 

 over 3,000 feet high. South, lona lay, with white sands glis- 

 tening in the sunlight. Westward one saw Tiree, and near 

 it the lighthouse on Skerry vore. North-west and north 

 Barra, Uist, and Skye stood out, all with many hills rising 

 sharply into the sky of deep blue. 



The site of this nest seemed such that no cattle would be 

 likely to feed near, so again — and with considerable difficulty, 

 for the ground was rocky — the hiding-tent was placed in 

 position some yards distant from the nest, and tliis having 

 been done we left the spot in order that the gull might become 



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