DESTRUCTION FOR FOOD 141 



predecessors did not hesitate to take toll of temporary 

 immigrants. Brand in 1701 tells us that in Caithness 

 "Especially there is a kind of Fowls called Snowflects [Snow 

 Buntings] which resort to this Countrey in great numbers in 

 February, they are about the bigness of a Sparrow, but 

 exceeding fat and delicious ; they flee in flocks, thousands 

 of them together, many of which the Inhabitants do kill and 

 make use of. They use to go away in April and are thought 

 to come from the West Highlands." 



CORMORANTS, ROCK-DOVES, AND KITTIWAKES 



Larger fry claimed the attention of coastwise dwellers, 

 especially where caves afforded shelter to innumerable hordes 

 of birds. Take for example Macaulay's description of the 

 slaughter of Cormorants (P halacr ocorax] and Rock Doves 

 (Columba livid] at " Hawskeir," an island near North Uist 

 in the Outer Hebrides: 



On the west side of the rock are two remarkably large caves, of a con- 

 siderable height : To these a vast multitude of sea cormorants retire every 

 evening. Here likewise they lay their eggs and foster their young. The 

 method practised by the islanders for catching fowls of this kind, while 

 secured within such fastnesses, is far from being incurious, though abund- 

 antly simple, nor is the pastime at all disagreeable. A band of young 

 fellows make a party and after having provided themselves with a quantity 

 of straw or heath, creep with great caution to the mouth of the cave which 

 affords the game, armed with poles light enough to be easily wielded : This 

 done, they set fire to the combustible stuff and raise an universal shout ; 

 the cormorants, alarmed by the outcry, frightened by a glare so strange, 

 and offended by the smoak, quit their beds and nests with the greatest 

 precipitation, and fly directly towards the light : Here the sportsmen, if 

 alert enough, will knock down a considerable number of them, and together 

 with the cormorants, whole coveys of pigeons. 



At Fair Isle, as Dr Eagle Clarke has recorded, a similar 

 method of catching Rock Doves was employed, but there a 

 sail was hung over the mouth of the cave before a lantern 

 was lit within, and the birds making for the entrance flew 

 against the sail, and falling to the ground, were picked up 

 by the hunters. So many were thus slain year after year 

 that, Dr Eagle Clarke tells me, no Rock Dove is now to 

 be seen on the island, although other causes, such as the 

 decrease of cultivated ground and the recent introduction of 

 the gun by the lighthouse-keepers, have contributed to its 

 disappearance. 



