122 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xv. 



than they are along our coast by Burghead, Gordonston, &c. ; 

 the rock-pigeons therefore make those rocks their head-quarters. 



Being at Cromarty early in last June, I made an excursion 

 along the rocks, for the double purpose of seeing the coast, 

 which is peculiarly bold and magnificent on the Ross-shire side 

 of the Cromarty Ferry, and also of shooting some pigeons and 

 other birds which bred in the caves and cliffs. 



Having hired a boat and crew 5 we started from Cromarty at 

 the first of the ebb on a bright calm day, with the little wind 

 that there was coming from the west. If the slightest east wind 

 comes on, the roll of the sea from the German Ocean is so heavy 

 on these rocks that it is impossible to approach them. This is 

 also the case for some days after an east wind has been blowing, 

 as thl're still remains a considerable swell. On nearing the west 

 end of the rocks, which are several hundred feet high, we dis- 

 turbed a good many cormorants, who were resting on some points 

 of the cliff, and basking with open wings in the morning sun. 

 Some parts of the rocks were quite white with the dung of these 

 birds. In the ivy-covered recesses, far up, were every here and 

 there a pair of small hawks, and rabbits hopping about high over 

 our heads, along narrow paths on the face of the rock. I shot 

 a rabbit at a great height with a rifle, and he came tumbling 

 over and over, till he finally fell right into a hawk's nest, to the 

 great astonishment of the young birds. Innumerable jackdaws 

 breed in every crevice. As we rowed farther on, we came 

 opposite a large cave, which the boatmen told me was a great 

 place of resort for the pigeons. So, stopping our course, the 

 men shouted, and out came a large flock of these birds, flying 

 directly over our heads. I killed two or three, and the rest flew 

 on, winding round the angles and headlands of the coast with 

 inconceivable rapidity. Having picked up the birds, 1 landed 

 with great difficulty on the rocks, and making my way over the 

 slippery seaweed, got into the cave, which extended some dis- 

 tance under the cliffs. There were several pigeons' nests, though 

 none that I could get at ; but I shot a couple of young ones that 

 had left the nest. The reverberation that succeeded the report 

 of the gun in the arched cave nearly deafened me. 



Soon afterwards we landed at another point ; and here, follow- 

 ing the example of one of my crew, I crept through a small 



