72 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



her beautiful airy unlaboured mode of flight, I raised 

 my second barrel and consigned her to a timely and 

 inglorious decease. I have no doubt but that they 

 possessed a nest somewhere thereabouts, but though I 

 searched diligently I was unsuccessful in discovering it. 

 I have not yet had an opportunity of studying 

 closely the habits of this fairy of the air, as the present 

 pair are the first of the kind that I have seen, though 

 I hear that round the smaller lochs of this district 

 they are sometimes to be met with in considerable 

 numbers. 



I scarcely ever take a walk in this island but I see 

 the little wheatear (Sylvia cenanthe), in its mottled 

 plumage, jerking forth its short harsh note, darting from 

 hillock to hillock, or perching upon the pointed rocks 

 that shelve upon the shore. 



Crossing a thickly-covered space of stunted broom 

 and crisp elastic peat-moss, intersected with deep 

 channels of black water, I sprung a single snipe, but 

 was unprepared for his sudden appearance. Mounting 

 and descending the opposite hill, a very prettily 

 situated modern residence, surrounded with substantial 

 evidences of gentlemanly comfort and more advanced 

 cultivation, and flanked by a neatly-kept homestead 

 of no small extent and farm accomodation, formed the 

 more prominent feature of a very striking and 

 picturesque landscape. Making my way up its 

 steep and gravelly approach, I discovered I had not 



