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Re: Manx Shearwaters

Subject: Re: Manx Shearwaters
From: "Andrew Carter" standlynch
Date: Sat Jul 7, 2007 1:55 am ((PDT))
The Viking invaders of Scotland thought Rum, with its 100,000 pairs
was a home to Trolls!

Andrew



--- In  "mdfrancey" <>
wrote:
>
> --- In  "stoatwizard" <linnet@> wrote:
> 
> > Must be scary to hear that in the dead of night!
> 
> "One of the cleverer and more mature of my undergradtuate
>  contemporaries, who was deeply religious, went camping
>  in the Scottish isles. In the middle of the night he and
>  his girlfriend were woken in their tent by the voice of
>  the devil, Satan himself; there could be no possible doubt:
>  the voice was in every sense diabolical. My friend would
>  never forget this horrifying experience, and it was one
>  of the factors that later drove him to be ordained. My
>  youthful self was impressed by this story, and recounted
>  it to a gathering of zoologists relaxing in the Rose and
>  Crown Inn, Oxford. Two of them happened to be experienced
>  ornithologists, and they roared with laughter. 'Manx
>  Shearwater!' they shouted in delighted chorus. One of
>  then added that the diabolical shrieks and cackles
>  of this species have earned it, in various parts of
>  the world and various languages, the local nickname
>  'Devil Bird'. Many people believe in God because
>  they believe they have seen a vision of him..."
> 
> 
> Richard Dawkins, "The God Delusion", page 87.
>






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