174 THE BIRDS OF IONA AND MULL. 



that I would not shoot it, though I have fired the gun almost 

 over its head without its moving. It remained about three 

 months quite quietly till the loch froze over last week, and the 

 geese were all frozen into it, and had to be released by the 

 Scarbh, which has come to end her days in quiet waters ; since 

 then the stranger has disappeared, and, I fear, for good." 



The Scarbh, or Scart, is my old boat, in which I did what 

 service I could in the sacred cause. She has since been preserved 

 by my good island friends, on the same principle that the old 

 Victory still remains afloat and ataunto in Portsmouth Harbour, 

 with her guns aboard and her flag flying. 



Mr M'Vean adds : " My Eagle is quite reconciled to living on 

 this side the Sound. Though quite at large all day, he returns to 

 roost at night. I spent some time in Ardnamurchan to visit the 

 young laird. I discovered that the Woodcock bred in the dis- 

 trict in considerable numbers ; from the castle windows every 

 evening I could count a dozen flying about, making a peculiar 

 purring noise. I also visited one of the largest heronries I ever 

 saw. It is on the cliffs at the Point of Ardnamurchan ; the rocks 

 are covered with ivy and shrubs, among which the Herons build. 

 It was a pretty sight pulling along the shore to see hundreds of 

 young birds sitting on the ledges, stretching their long necks to 

 look down at us." 



A fine male, in perfect plumage, of a Red-crested Pochard 

 (Fuligula rufina) was shot in this neighbourhood (Craignish). 

 It was on a. fresh -water loch, in company with Widgeon, but 

 without a companion of its own species. It is a beautiful bird ; 

 the bright red of bill and legs like coral, the tufted crest and 



