38 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



the craig at a point which it makes the blood run cold 

 to survey. When he appeared in the town, where he 

 was well known, upon a Sunday morning, and sparely 

 clothed, the inhabitants fled before him, supposing him 

 a spectre from the dead. Thanksgivings were offered 

 up in all the churches for his safe deliverance, and all 

 testified by their universal sympathy their astonish- 

 ment at his marvellous escape. 



Being desirous of gaining that point, and thus 

 getting a more extended glimpse of the surrounding 

 scene, I crossed a wide neck of land that, ending in a 

 long low point formed by successive sloping steps of 

 rock, juts out in the tideway, shooting in my progress 

 a common bunting (Emberiza miliaria), killing it in a 

 very cleanly manner, without a single speck of blood to 

 soil the feathers. I noticed these birds in great plenty 

 in the young corn, and they are commonly termed the 

 corn bunting in the north of Scotland. I do not think 

 that it is popularly known that one of the specific dis- 

 tinctions of this bird is a curious little palatine knob 

 projecting downwards from the interior surface of its 

 upper mandible, and aptly mentioned by Mr. Yarrell. 

 It is doubtless provided for the purpose of cutting or 

 bruising the seeds upon which it feeds. 



Gaining the coast again on the opposite side, I 

 rested upon a very abrupt grassy bank, many feet above 

 the level of the beach. A herring-gull at this moment, 

 suddenly swooping in his flight, came just within range 



