BIRD-NOTES FROM SCOTLAND. 427 



had them in focus, and saw they were Golden Plover (Charadrius 

 pluvialis) in breeding plumage, which interested me greatly, as 

 it was the first of this species I had seen alive. They went about 

 in pairs, sometimes coming quite close ; I think they had young 

 among the grass and heather. We next went to the edge of the 

 cliffs to see the thousands of Puffins that are continually flying 

 backward and forward. It is wonderful looking down from 

 this great height at the never-ceasing stream of bird-life, all 

 seeming to be in a great hurry about something. As we were 

 leaving the northern cliffs I noticed an Eagle circling at a great 

 height above the water ; it settled on a rock on the edge of the 

 cliff, and I had a good look at it with the glasses. From the 

 description in Saunders' ' Manual,' and from the stuffed bird I 

 saw at Loch Broom, I think it was a young White-tailed Eagle 

 (Haliaetus albicilla). I think there is nothing that gives more 

 pleasure than to look on a species that one has often read 

 about, but has never seen alive in the wild state. I had this 

 pleasure a few times this year, but what must it be to discover a 

 species new to science ! The Great Black-backed Gulls also 

 come to Canna, and Mr. Thorn, the owner of the island, tells me 

 they sometimes attack the lambs, pecking out their eyes, and 

 gouging into the brain. One he knew, which was kept in cap- 

 tivity, swallowed three Starlings, feathers and all, one after the 

 other. I saw a pair of Peregrines in 1900, and I hear they still 

 live unmolested in one of the cliffs. 



One day I was talking to our skipper about Gannets (Sula 

 bassana). He told me that one year, off the Isle of Man, he 

 caught them in herring-nets twelve fathoms down — seventy-two 

 feet is a big dive for a bird — and at Loch Strivin he has often 

 obtained Guillemots (Uria troile) in the cod-nets thirty fathoms 

 down. 



I hope my few notes may be of some interest to ornithologists 

 who intend spending their holidays in what I think is the most 

 beautiful part of the British Isles. 



