IN SEARCH OF THE ROCK DOVE 235 



out, others station themselves on the rocks without, 

 and shoot the doves as they leave. Good-sized bags 

 are sometimes made in a day, but nearly every bird 

 is either shot or scared away from the haunt. We 

 feared that some of these fellows had been to the 

 caves before our visit. 



The caves were reached after a pleasant sail 

 lasting about two hours, and we then realised the 

 length of a Scotsman's " bittock." Although the 

 sea was smooth, there was a remarkably heavy 

 swell on, and even the fishermen thought landing 

 would be impossible ; but the boat was taken into 

 a convenient little creek in the shelter of some taller 

 rocks, and we jumped ashore. A short climb over 

 sharp-pointed rocks brought us to the entrance of 

 the cave, but no doves were seen. However, we 

 entered and searched round, and found plenty of 

 evidence that they had recently nested there ; but 

 the birds and their eggs were all gone, so that we 

 had to content ourselves with taking photographs 

 of the site. The roof of the cave was composed 

 of red sandstone, and on this, numbers of house - 

 martins had built. The whole rockside was dotted 

 with their nests, all being made of red sand, and 

 were thus difficult to distinguish from the cliff itself. 

 These nests were interesting, as showing the house- 

 martins' natural nesting site. 



We were disappointed in not finding any doves 



