CH. VI. NEST OF WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. 103 



tailed eagle. The old birds flew far away imme- 

 diately, and I only occasionally saw them as they 

 soared high in the air. The nest was so completely 

 under a shelf of rock that nothing but the ends of 

 the outer sticks could be seen. I had not time to 

 make any decided trial to get at it, as I had pro- 

 mised to be with Mr. M'lvor at six o'clock ; and 

 my intention of visiting the place the next day was 

 frustrated. 



The rocks are curiously indented by the sea ; in 

 one place the waves have cut a kind of deep crevice 

 the whole height of the cliffs, for a good distance 

 into the island, through the narrow entrance of 

 which the swell was roaring with a noise like 

 thunder. At another part there is an island, or 

 stack, as it is called, within a stone's throw of the 

 main land, but quite isolated. It is in the shape of 

 a sugar-loaf, with a flat summit of perhaps twenty 

 yards across. The top was covered with green 

 herbage, and swarmed with birds of diflFerent kinds. 

 Amongst them were great numbers of black-backed 

 sea-gulls, both the greater and the lesser. 



In the quieter parts of the cliffs were rock -pigeons 

 and cormorants ; neither of these birds seemed in- 

 clined to associate much with the crowd of sea-fowl 

 which filled the greatest part of the rocks. Their 

 stench alone might drive away so delicate a bird as 



