A VISIT TO THE CALF OF MAN. 163 



reaching, at its further side, the high point called "Kione-y- 

 Ghoggan," Kazorbills, Alca torda, began to pass and repass as 

 the coast rose into a series of shelves far above the sea, the grey 

 of the schist-rock, sometimes so dark here, weathered almost 

 into whiteness. We noted, to our surprise, a pair of Common 

 Sandpipers, Tringoides hypoleucus, running at the weedy foot of 

 these great rock-walls, a situation which seems at variance with 

 the usual habits of this species, but which I have several times 

 observed in other parts of the island. Beyond " Kione-y- 

 Ghoggan" is a wild recess where the cliff ledges (not, as on the 

 outside, bare even of a blade of grass) are thick with a rich 

 vegetation, the light glaucous hue of the sea-campion, the glossy 

 green of sorrel, and the flowering beds of samphire, Crithmum 

 maritimum, varying the rock surface. In the centre of the recess 

 lies the block called " The Anvil," and the further cliff is pierced 

 by the cave so well known to tourists as " The Hall," the other 

 end of which enters into the Bay of Stacka. Opposite its opening 

 is the huge pyramidal stack, the " Sugar-loaf," from which the 

 bay derives its name, and both on this and the adjacent main- 

 land, are shelves which hold a considerable number of Guillemots 

 and Razorbills. Larus argentatus also breeds abundantly in the 

 recess at the "Anvil," and on the "screes" of the Stacka Bay, 

 where the cliff-face is encumbered with vast masses of fallen 

 stones and debris. At the summit is the show place called the 

 " Chasms," the slipping of the cliff-side having caused deep rents 

 in the hill above, but the precipitous shore beneath is infinitely 

 grander than these narrow crevices. The whole surface here is a 

 waste, and covered with ling, Calluna vulgaris, rising to one of 

 the highest points of the Mull, the " Cronk-ny-Arrey" (or as the 

 people of the neighbourhood, with a strange mixture of Manx and 

 English, say, " Cronk Watch"), one of the many watch-hills of 

 the anciently warlike islanders. 



Leaving the " Sugar-loaf," we proceeded to the somewhat 

 less-known cliffs on the further side of Stacka Bay. These reach 

 their greatest height in " Spanish Head," a fine perpendicular 

 precipice, the name of which is often connected with the wreck 

 of some ship or ships of the Spanish Armada. The association 

 seems to be groundless,* but the sheer and massive precipice, 



* See Eev. T. Talbot, in « Transactions of Isle of Man Nat. Hist. &c. 

 Soc.,' vol. i., p. 109 & seq. 



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