. The birds of Iona & Mull . nt at least for mostoccasions. It is very useful for detecting birds upon the water,when one is boating, or for discovering them among rocks, oramong reeds and cover; and by twilight it is superior to thetelescope, as it contains fewer glasses, and does not consequentlyabsorb so much of the light. The Ravens have got their new nest in the locality I expectedthey were going to adopt. Here, in a high cliff, they have takenup their residence in an old nest formerly built by a Peregrine,but since tenanted by Hooded Crows. The nest being readybuilt, it only required a f
. The birds of Iona & Mull . nt at least for mostoccasions. It is very useful for detecting birds upon the water,when one is boating, or for discovering them among rocks, oramong reeds and cover; and by twilight it is superior to thetelescope, as it contains fewer glasses, and does not consequentlyabsorb so much of the light. The Ravens have got their new nest in the locality I expectedthey were going to adopt. Here, in a high cliff, they have takenup their residence in an old nest formerly built by a Peregrine,but since tenanted by Hooded Crows. The nest being readybuilt, it only required a fresh lining. The place, I think, is totallyinaccessible ; however, I may sacrifice one of the old birds for thesake of its skin, should it be wanted. I have got two more Black Guillemots skins for you whichexhibit the changes the plumage undergoes between winter andsummer. The Wheatear arrived here on the 21st of March. Last Saturday, the 3rd of April, I found a Rock Doves nestcontaining young ones, which is unusually T-- •JU^W»^.*_ VIII. Iona, 10th April 1852. The Eock Dove (Columba livia). The Wood Pigeon is unknown upon our rocky woodless shores,but its absence is compensated for by great numbers of a smallerspecies—the Rock Dove. The granite cliffs on the south of Mull, the basaltic crags ofStaffa, and lofty precipices of trap rock upon the adjacent islands,are all perforated by innumerable caverns of every imaginablesize and shape, from the well-known majestic Hall of Fingal,resounding with the sullen booming of ever-rolling waves, downto the little fairy grotto, whose cool white shell-sand is scarcedimpled by the sparkling ripples of the sheltered sea. Some ofthese caves are grand and of lofty dimensions, with no floor butthe deep blue water, which heaves to and fro through their hugefrowning portals ; others are romantic and picturesque, their rockscovered with many-coloured lichens, and their dark aperturesfringed with shaggy heather and ivy, amongst which
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsscotlandhebride
