The Zoologist — March, 1869. 1591 



A little cave not half a mile sotith of the landing-place is well worth a 

 visit, esjDecially to the botanist who wishes to see that beautiful fern, 

 Asplenium mariniim, growing in perfection : the cave is only about 

 twenty feet in length and three or four feet wide, but a person can 

 easily walk in to the very back of the cave ; right to the back, and 

 covering the whole roof and sides, grows the Asplenium marinum, of 

 good size and wonderful freshness. At the back or south-eastern 

 side of the island is a fine creux, or funnel-shaped opening in the top 

 of the cliff, communicating beneath with the sea, which dashes through 

 a lateral opening at high tide ; but fine as this creux is said to be, it 

 is but a pigmy compared with the one of a similar nature at the back 

 of Handa, in West Sutherland. Here, in Herni, the sides of the 

 creux are some eighty feet high at the most, whereas those of the 

 one at Handa, being quite as high as the outside and surrounding 

 wall of cliff, must be at least three hundred feet, and I think I under- 

 state their altitude at that figure. Moreover, the walls of the creux 

 here are not nearly perpendicular, and it would be no hard matter to 

 descend from top to bottom or vice versa, but at Handa such would 

 be simply impossible, unless a fifty-fathom rope were used, as the 

 walls are quite perpendicular, and indeed in some places the top 

 ov<jrhangs the base. 



During my walk round the island I saw a fine covey of partridges 

 and also two couple of birds already paired : these have been intro- 

 duced to the island by the present proprietor, and he intends, 

 I believe, also to try and stock his island with pheasants. I met the 

 gamekeeper to-day busy amongst the rabbits : he told me that a large 

 eagle had for some lime been flying about Herm, but some two days 

 back had taken a strychnined bait which he had laid for it, and had 

 not since been seen : he felt sure it was lying dead somewhere; and 

 accordingly on the following Sunday (January 31st) one of the 

 labourers picked up the bird amongst the rocks of the south end of 

 Herm, and brought it into the inn, where 1 had an opportunity of 

 examining it: it had just begun to decompose, the eyes being much 

 sunk ; the neck and legs were quite supple, showing that " by poison 

 he died;" it was a male bird of the year and in good plumage, 

 though the tail-feathers were rather soiled and rubbed at the tips : the 

 keeper had called it a " golden eagle," but it was only a whitelailed. 

 In all probability this bird was mated with the other eagle which was 

 obtained on Herm about three or four months ago, also by the game- 

 keeper and by the same means, and I think taken notice of at the 



