56 



THE BIRDS OF IONA AND MULL. 



or in any way to interfere with the foul fiend ! Unfortunately 

 I was a day too late last year. I hope the vengeful spirit of the 



desecrated nest overtook 

 the fishermen with 

 a good ducking 

 before they got 

 home and a foul 

 wind ever after ! 

 I despaired of the 

 Kavens returning ; 

 but yesterday the 

 old shepherd 

 (whose heart I 

 had just enlarged 

 by the presenta- 

 tion of six inches of pigtail) informed me that the fiach, or 

 Eavens, had nearly finished building their nest in the old place. 

 I hope that I may get them if all goes right, even though it 

 should be necessary to take a basin of holy water from St 

 Columba's cell to dash into the nest and dislodge the deil 

 from his eggs. 



Collecting eggs, however, is as uncertain and full of disappoint- 

 ment as even wild-fowl shooting, and this is why I speak so 

 cautiously in the list I have just written ; for many of these 

 eggs, though very plentiful at the islands, must be procured at 

 exactly the right time, and from the uncertainty of the weather 

 it is not always possible to get them. Last year, for instance, 

 being a week top late, out of nearly every Puffin's and Black 



