CH. I. HERONRY PEREGRINE FALCON. 15 



for them, and as loth to part with them (except- 

 ing at a very high price), as love of gain could 

 make them. Nor had they the least scruple in 

 endeavom'ing to impose eggs under fictitious names 

 on any person wishing to purchase such things. 

 Indeed I am very sure that many of the eggs 

 sold by London dealers are acquired in this way, 

 and are not to be in the least depended on as to 

 their identity. 



I was told of a singular heronry situated on a 

 lake between Oykel and the inn at Altnagalcanach, 

 where the herons breed in great numbers on the 

 ground in an island on the loch. The place being 

 situated at some distance from the road, I had not 

 time to look for it, much as I should have liked to 

 have seen the heron building in such a situation ; 

 but, as we drove along, I saw several herons winging 

 their heavy flight towards the place where I was 

 told this lake was situated. 



Before we started from Inchnadamph, wishing to 

 procure some eggs of the peregrine falcon, who 

 bred in the cHff near the inn, I procured the assist- 

 ance of two or three people, one of whom, a young 

 man, son of the innkeeper, volunteered to go over 

 the face of the rock with a rope round his waist, we 

 holding it from above. As it was not only rainy but 

 extremely windy, I was not very willing for him to 



