268 THE BIRDS OF IONA AND MULL. 



white colouring gives it the name of the parson among the south coast 

 English fishermen. We find this gull breeding on the flat, marshy 

 summits of all the lesser islands, where the nests, mere hollows lined 

 with a little sea-pink, are so thick together as to make it difficult to 

 avoid treading upon them. If we find three eggs laid together, we are 

 rather shy of taking them, as that is the full complement, and so may 

 be in progress of hatching. When we find but one or two eggs, we of 

 course take them and put them to the ordeal at the first convenient dub 

 of rain-water. All that sink are spolia opima; those that float, when 

 we cannot return them to their nests, are flung over the edge of the 

 cliff, if possible in the direction of the patient boat-keeper some giddy 

 fathoms down, whose nut-shell charge is the slender connecting link 

 between you and the rest of the world. Meanwhile the clamour over- 

 head is frightful \ you cannot make your comrade hear though you 

 shout in his ear. The enraged birds dash at your head, and your dogs 

 slink at your heels with lowered crest and tail, as if ashamed of being 

 cowed by mere vociferous birds. 



In the spring, when the fields are newly sown, the lesser black- 

 backs, then in pairs, may be often found feasting on the seed corn, in 

 company with rock doves and other birds, and though they are shy and 

 difficult of approach, they are then tolerably eatable. 



THE HERRING GULL. 



Gaelic, Faoileann (pronounced feulin) ; faoile is gentle, kind, mild. The young 

 and immature birds so sought for by boys to keep as pets are called sglinrach 

 a slut, a slattern, a trollop. Norwegian, Gra trut. 



Is another fine, large, powerful bird, still more abundant than the 

 last, and to be met with in great numbers along the shores at all times 

 of the year, and breeding upon the same islets as the last, though the 

 position of the nest is rather different, being built on clefts and inac- 

 cessible ledges of the cliffs and precipices, instead of upon the flat table- 

 land on the summit of the island. It lays the same number of three 

 eggs, also of the same size and colour, which are equally sought for. 



On some of these small islands boats' crews of fishermen take up 

 their quarters for the summer, erecting huts and tents for sleeping in, 

 and they trust for their support very materially upon the gulls' eggs 

 which they can collect, eked out with the little oatmeal they bring with 

 them. I have ofoen joined in gathering this harvest of eggs, landing 



