102 TOUR IN SUTHERLAND. CH. VI. 



Leaving Dunbar to collect his eggs, I strolled 

 off alone along the summit of the cliffs, sitting 

 down here and there to watch the different pro- 

 ceedings of the birds ; and it was a most curious 

 sight. On lying down to look over the most 

 perpendicular parts, the constant and countless 

 clouds of birds that were flying to and fro sug- 

 gested the idea of a heavy snow-storm more than 

 anything else, so crowded was their flight, and so 

 high was the cliff. The guillemots seldom came to 

 the top, but the razor-bills and puffins, particularly 

 the latter, came fearlessly close to me. Indeed the 

 puffins seemed to have the most entire confidence in 

 my peaceable intentions, and frequently alighted so 

 near me, that I might have knocked them down 

 with a walking-stick. Sitting on a stone, they ex- 

 amined me most curiously, twisting their oddly- 

 shaped heads to the right and left, as if to be sure 

 of my identity. In some parts of the rocks there 

 were great collections of kittiwakes' nests. These 

 birds, unlike the guillemots, &c., construct a good- 

 sized receptacle of weeds and grass for their eggs. In 

 the midst of all this confusion and Babel of birds a 

 pair of peregrine falcons had their nests, and on my 

 approach they dashed about amongst the other birds, 

 uttering loud cries of alarm and anger. Towards 

 the east end of the island was the nest of the white- 



