SPORT IN BUTE. 189 



course preserved as proof that there are at least canes in Bute ! 

 Never during the term of years I spent in Mull could I detect 

 a single instance of the common weasel ; and from inquiries I 

 made in Skye, I am of opinion that they are extinct there also. 



The larger-footed vermin, such as foxes, wild cats, martens, 

 and (I think) foumarts, have most likely never been introduced 

 into this island, or, if any of them were formerly indigenous, 

 they have been extirpated. Hedgehogs, however, are far from 

 rare, and my watcher trapped a brace of them last spring at 

 the same egg set for hoodie-crows. The first escaped, minus a 

 foot, which the man assured me had been the property of a rat of 

 such gigantic dimensions, that no cat in Bute would be foolhardy 

 enough to face him in single combat. As if to solve the mystery, 

 and put a damper on his wonder and curiosity, next night the 

 other hedgehog was taken. These prickly swine do great 

 damage to all ground nests of eggs within their sluggish beat. 



None of the grander birds of prey breed in Bute. The sea- 

 eagle sometimes rests for a day or two when wandering south, or 

 returning to her mountains again from a winter migration. I 

 have, however, never seen a single instance of the peregrine 

 falcon, the hen-harrier, 1 the golden eagle, or the buzzard, all of 

 which were far from uncommon in Mull. Until lately, ravens 

 used annually to hatch on the precipices of North Bute ; but for 

 the last four years they have deserted their rocks. Still, on the 

 evening of an autumn or winter shooting-day, I have been often 

 warned by an iron croak from the clouds that the corbie was 

 scenting the carrion, and, followed by her young ones, had 

 swooped across the Kyles from the shaggy mountains of Cowal, 

 to feast them in security on the island prey. 



Of the Accipitres, the only species I have verified in Bute 

 are the sparrow-hawk and kestrel. Once or twice I noticed in 

 the distance what might have been a female merlin; but as 

 there were no nests of that tiny falcon found on my heathery 



1 Last autumn I perceived a female hen-harrier or ringtail skirting the shore of 

 the Kyles, but it soon flew across to Argyllshire. 



