202 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



food being thistle, chickweed, and dandelion seeds. The green 

 and grey finches are very partial to flax and lint seeds ; hence 

 their name of green and grey " linties " or linnets. 



In describing the birds around this ivied tower of Bute, 

 any one with a turn for natural history will at once perceive 

 that I have, link by link, connected the most perfect of the 

 soft-billed migrants of the air (the swift) with the hardest- 

 billed resident (the goldfinch) which collects food on the 

 ground. Like all God's works, there are no gaps in ornith- 

 ology one species glides into another until they are dove- 

 tailed into one harmonious whole. 



In crossing the Minch some years ago, a little dark bird 

 was constantly flitting past our cutter with all the character- 

 istics of a swallow powerful wings, long tail, body thrown 

 well forward, and tapering like a canoe. Seamen have a 

 superstitious dread that this sea-swallow brings storms, and 

 delights in them. But the truth is, that " stormy petrels " 

 dislike the tempest as much as their neighbours, as it is only 

 when the sea is tolerably quiet that they can collect the chief 

 part of their food, which consists of the oily substance on the 

 top of the waters. When the waves rise, of course the sur- 

 face of the sea is much increased, which disperses the oil, and 

 gives far more trouble in collecting it ; add to which, the birds 

 are so light and buoyant, partly from their greasy food, that, 

 like the thistle-down, they appear the sport of the hurricane. 

 When feeding they use both wings and feet, and while the 

 former are expanded the latter tip the water, so the little bird 

 appears both flying and walking. It is on account of this 

 kind of " walking on the water " they derive their name of 

 Petrels or Little Peters. 



It was a lovely June night when I crossed the Minch, and 

 many a sea-swallow was skimming in two senses ocean's calm 

 bosom. When they were preening off the collected oil, its 

 effect made the bird so light that, like a gossamer, it seemed 

 to touch the sea but not to press it. 



