Notes on the natural history of the Bell RockCampbell, J. M. (John MacLean)
History
Notes on the natural history of the Bell Rock
Campbell, J. M. (John MacLean)
Lighthouses -- Natural history; Natural history -- Scotland -- Bell Rock
On the night of the 8th we had a few migrants on the lantern, ten
blackbirds--three only of which were males--and three fieldfares.
Several of them appeared much fatigued, and after a few preliminary
hops round the lantern, settled down on the lee side to have a nap.
A fresh breeze blowing at the time, those still on the move were
frequently hustled by the wind against the sleepers, who, thus
rudely awakened, vigorously resented what they no doubt considered a
deliberate attempt to assault, with the result that all hands were at
times engaged in a battle royal; the hen “blackies” only engaging with
those of their own sex, while the cocks and fieldfares tackled all
comers indiscriminately. It was rather amusing to witness the finish
between a pair thus engaged. Edging round the narrow pathway in their
struggle, they gradually came under the influence of the wind sweeping
round the lantern, when suddenly one of them would be wheeled off its
feet away into the darkness, its opponent peering after it in evident
astonishment, and probably congratulating itself on its prowess. The
haze, responsible for their appearance here, clearing after midnight,
before 3 a.m. they had all resumed their journey shoreward. On the
20th, a pair of grey crows passed, going east, and on the 22nd a heron
was seen travelling in the same direction. Again, on the night of
the 27th, three hen blackbirds and a starling had the lantern all to
themselves.
The white whelks have now gone into winter quarters, and only a few
are to be seen lingering among patches of immature mussels. The
black edible whelk, or periwinkle, whose vegetarian habits demand a
more inshore life, is here conspicuous by its absence. Occasionally,
during the summer months, a very close search reveals a few solitary
specimens. Two different varieties of slugs have been much in evidence
among the rocks here of late. One of them (_Doris coccinea_),
resembling in shape and colour a section of an orange, I have already
described; the other somewhat resembles the common snail. Furnished
with anterior horns and fleshy spines, ranged along the back, it curls
itself up when out of water like a hedgehog. Earlier in the season they
were mostly of a beautiful bluish colour, now they appear quite red.
Without any visible means of defence, one can fancy these shell-less
molluscs furnishing a delectable tit-bit for a hungry cod.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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