86 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



clicking of the Clacharan, I looked over the moss-grown wall of 

 boulder stones, and there saw a beautiful male bird of this species 

 on a sculptured urn surmounting one of the few tombstones in 

 this singularly lonely burial-place. Wheeling round on the top 

 of the urn, the little fellow beckoned to me, as I thought, inviting 

 a nearer approach, telling me, however, in very plain bird language, 

 the " gate's shut, shut." I was tempted by the strange look of 

 the inclosure to intrude on the " homes of the dead," and after 

 passing through a rude gap in the wall, I walked up to the spot, 

 and read that a good man lay buried there. The stone, protected 

 by an iron railing, was all but surrounded by desolate weeds; but 

 a deepening glow of purple from the setting sun threw a radiance 

 on the grave none the less impressive as I deciphered the inscrip- 

 tion: 



Sacred to the Memory of 



N INI AN CLARK, 



Factor for Colonel Gordon of Cluny's Long Island properties, 

 Who was drowned 4th May, 1843, 



Aged 38 years. 

 He was much esteemed in life, and deeply lamented in death, 



by all who knew him. 



This Tablet is erected by his Beloved and 



Bereaved Wife. 



While transcribing these words into my note-book, a large sea- 

 gull alighted on a turf-covered mound, within a few yards of where 

 I stood, and folded back his neck with the design of remaining 

 there for the night. At this moment the place became invested 

 with a strange solemnity, which made an impression upon me that I 

 can never forget. The sky had become softened into a dark bluish 

 purple, and the fast falling shades brought an unusual sense of 

 loneliness, broken only by the dull sound of the Atlantic breaking 

 on the beach. Sky and sea, indeed, were unlike anything I had 

 ever seen or listened to before. There was no life around save 

 that solitary bird 



" Like an image sitting there 

 Alone amid the doleful air, 

 Seeming to tell of some dim union, 

 Some wild and mystical communion, 

 Connecting with his parent sea 

 This lonesome stoneless cemetery." 



