<![. I. HERONRY — PEREGRINE FALCON. 15 



for them, and as loth to part with them (except- 

 ing at a very high price), as love of gain could 

 make them. Nor had they the least scruple in 

 endeavouring to impose eggs under fictitious names 

 on any person wishing to purchase such things. 

 Indeed I am very sure that many of the eggs 

 sold by London dealers are acquired in this way, 

 and are not to be in the least depended on as to 

 their identity. 



I was told of a singular heronry situated on a 

 lake between Oykel and the inn at Altnagalcanach, 

 where the herons breed in great numbers on the 

 ground in an island on the loch. The place being 

 situated at some distance from the road, I had not 

 time to look for it, much as I should have liked 

 to have seen the heron building in such a situa- 

 tion ; but as we drove along I saw several herons 

 winging their heavy flight towards the place 

 where I was told this lake was situated. 



Before we started from Inchnadamph, wishing 

 to procure some eggs of the peregrine falcon, who 

 bred in the cliff near the inn, I procured the 

 assistance of two or three people, one of whom, a 

 young man, son of the innkeeper, volunteered to 

 go over the face of the rock with a rope round his 

 waist, we holding it from above. As it was not 

 only rainy but extremely windy, I was not very 



