154 THE BIRDS OF lONA AND MULL. 



seas as far as the eye can reach, then he knows that it is time for 

 him to bark his nets and patch up the old skiff, in preparation 

 for the great herring campaign. 



Though this part of Loch Fyne is abundantly frequented by 

 all the ordinary description of wild fowl, yet, being but inland 

 waters, it is not such a favourable post of observation as one of 

 the outlying islands of the west. From one of those rocky watch- 

 towers you may see the mighty armies of the skies, the plumed 

 hosts of the air, upon their annual march to and fro. Those 

 desolate rocks often shelter a tempest-driven stranger, who other- 

 wise would not seek our shores ; and those hyperborean seas give 

 a winter welcome to the hardy Arctic tribes, who disdain the 

 tepid waters and enervating climate of the south. Yet even here in 

 spring we may observe various northern emigrants, dressed in their 

 sumptuous nuptial robes, on their way to the bush fens of Norway, 

 where, steaming under the never-setting sun among the rank sedge 

 and lukewarm waters of the dark lagune, is some well-known 

 secluded spot, far from the ken of man, where many a generation 

 of young Northern, or Eed-throated Diverling and Sclavonian 

 Grebelet, has first seen the light, and been launched on life's 

 troubled waters. The latter bird I observed here in March. Last 

 year a considerable number remained in the loch during the last 

 week of the month, a spell of bad weather retarding their pro- 

 gress. Though going in small parties, they had evidently paired, 

 the couples keeping close together ; so close, indeed, that I obtained 

 two specimens at one shot. They were in full summer dress — a 

 very striking and beautiful combination of buff, black, and white. 

 The largely-developed horns of orange plumes are a very striking 



