Birds. 2905 



On Sea-Fowls Breeding in Moray Firth. 

 By the Rev. James Smith. 



In a former communication (Zool. 1908) I mentioned that in the 

 parish of Gamrie, which lies along the shore of the Moray Firth, there 

 is a breeding-place of those birds which are known by the general 

 name of sea-fowl. The coast where they in this case assemble is per- 

 haps one of the finest in the kingdom. The rocks, which are its 

 most striking and characteristic feature, are of the old red sandstone 

 formation. They have, generally speaking, a dingy and rust-colored 

 appearance, and they visibly contain a very considerable number of 

 conglomerates. Of many, or rather, of almost the whole of them, the 

 height is great ; and, when they are closely approached in a boat, the 

 appearance which they present is of the most imposing character. 

 They rise up before the spectator, and in some cases hang over his 

 head, as if they were stupendous bulwarks, erected by the hand 

 of nature for keeping in continued fulfilment the divine announce- 

 ment, which says of the ocean, " hitherto shalt thou come but no 

 further;" (Job, ch. 38, v. 11).* In the tempests of winter, the waves 

 are dashed against the precipices formed by these rocks with a mag- 

 nificence, and a noise, which require to be seen and heard ; and 

 of which no words, however vivid, can convey an adequate concep- 

 tion. But on a calm and unclouded day in summer, especially when 

 the little breath of wind that is to be felt comes off" directly from the 

 shore, the sea may be said to be asleep, as it were, even to the very 



* Through the kindness and attention of Mr. William Gruer, officer in the Coast- 

 guard Service, Pennan, I am enabled to state the altitudes of the more remarkable of 

 the rocks along this coast. They are the result of a government survey, and may, 

 therefore, he implicitly relied upon as being of the strictest accuracy. The height of 

 Gamrie More. {i. e., the Big Gamrie), is 403 feet ; Cruivie Head 280 feet ; Troup 

 Head 389 feet ; the Kittie Rocks 140 feet ; and Pennan Head 352 feet. This last 

 mentioned, which is popularly known as the Black Head of Pennan, is one of the most 

 noticeable among them all. When viewed in a particular direction, there is seen, 

 near to its summit, a striking profile of the late Mr. Pitt. It is exactly such as often 

 occurs in the caricatures of that eminent statesman from the pencil of Gilray. It is 

 said that a neighbouring proprietor, who was an ardent admirer of Mr. Fox, often 

 complained, that he could not go to his own door without having brought before his 

 eyes the unwelcome visage of the great opponent of his political chief. A small rock 

 lying a few yards to the north from Troup Head, and appearing by itself above the 

 surface of the water, is called the Firlot, and is the most northerly point of the whole 

 Moray Filth. 



