4 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



to make their peculiarities of dimension patent to the naked 

 eye and not mere matters of measurement say, were they 

 the size of Leopards their distinctive coloration and remark- 

 able difference in size and proportion of the limbs and ears 

 might have a very different influence on the ordinary mind. 

 KILMANOCK, ARTHURSTOWN, IRKLAND. 



THE BIRDS OF FAIR ISLE, NATIVE AND 



MIGRATORY. 



By WM. EAGLE CLARKE, F.R.S.E., F.L.S. 

 PLATES I. AND II. 



THOUGH lying midway between the Orkney and Shetland 

 archipelagoes, Fair Isle has remained among the least visited 

 of all the inhabited isles of the British seas. That this 

 should be so is, no doubt, in a measure, to be accounted for 

 by there being no regular communication by steamer with 

 the island : a fact which is probably due to the entire absence 

 of a reasonably good natural harbour, and to the dangerous 

 nature of the fierce tidal streams which rush along its coasts. 



Fair Isle, like Faroe, probably signifies Sheep Isle ; and 

 it is perhaps best, if at all, known to the general reader 

 from the fact that it was the scene, in the autumn of the 

 year 1588, of the wreck of "El Gran Grifon," one of the 

 ships of the Spanish Armada, flying the flag of Juan Gomez 

 de Medina. The island is situated some twenty-four miles 

 S.S.W. from Sumburgh Head, Shetland, and twenty-six 

 E.N.E. of the Orcadian island of North Ronaldshay. It is, 

 roughly speaking, oblong in form, having its longest axis 

 from N. to S. of about two and three-quarter miles, and 

 averages about one mile in width. Though a circuit of the 

 island may be made in about nine miles, yet so indented is 

 its coast-line by geos that its in-and-out circumference is not 

 much short of twenty miles. 



Except a small portion of its southern coast, the island 

 is everywhere surrounded by high inaccessible cliffs, ranging 

 from 100 to close upon 600 feet. The cliff scenery is bold 

 and rugged in the extreme, especially on the north and west 

 coasts ; and its interest added to by numerous off -lying 



