THE BIRDS OF THE FLANNAN ISLANDS 9 



almost entirely of observations made on Eilean Mhor, the 

 largest and most northerly of the eastern group, whereon 

 stands the lighthouse, completed in 1899. From this station 

 Mr. Harvie-Brown and I have received schedules recording 

 the occurrences of birds down to the present date. From 

 these returns it was evident that an important, though 

 perhaps subsidiary, stream of migratory birds swept over the 

 islands in both spring and autumn. In order to supplement 

 our knowledge relating to these interesting movements I, 

 along with my friend Mr. T. G. Laidlaw, spent sixteen days 

 on the island September 6 to 21 during the past 

 autumn, residing in the lighthouse by the special permission 

 of the Commissioners for Northern Lighthouses. 



In addition to the information thus acquired, a pioneer 

 paper on the subject was written by Mr. Harvie-Brown and 

 published in the " Proceedings of the Glasgow Natural 

 History Society" (1882, pp. 197-209). This consists of an 

 account of a visit paid to the islands on June 9, 

 1 88 1, during which the group was circumnavigated, and a 

 short time spent on Eilean Tigh, on which a landing was 

 with some difficulty effected. During this trip Mr. Harvie- 

 Brown observed thirteen species, all, with the exception of 

 several Fulmars observed in the neighbourhood of the 

 islands, the usual summer rock-breeding birds to be observed 

 in such haunts. 



Eilean Mhor is precipitous on all sides. The cliffs on 

 the north and east are the highest, and attain an elevation of 

 282 feet ; those on the south being the lowest, and mostly 

 under 200 feet Thus the top of the island forms an 

 elevated plateau, sloping towards the south, and having an 

 area, by survey, of sixteen acres, 1 clothed with grass and sea 

 pink, and with here and there bare patches of peaty turf and 

 exposed rock. Where not forming precipices, the steep 

 rocky banks facing the sea have a profuse growth of herbage, 

 chief among which is a Marguerite. These dangerous slopes 

 were much resorted to as feeding grounds by the smaller 

 migratory birds, for, amid the shelter they afforded, they were 

 comparatively safe from the assiduous attentions of the ever- 



1 Mr. Harvie-Brown (op. cit.} gives the area of grass as "some So acres," 

 but on what authority is not stated. 



