NOTES ON THE MAMMALS AND BIRDS OF ROUSAY. 45 



&c., as they are only visited occasionally by people 

 who come to look after their stock, which is placed 

 on these islands during the summer months ^vhen 

 an abundance of grass springs up. 



Rousay, one of the more important islands of the 

 group, belonging to Lieut.-Gen. F. W. Burroughs, 

 V.C., C.B., includes in its parish the islands of Viera 

 and Egilshay; but it is to Eousay itself, where, as 

 tenant of the Westness shootings, I was resident 

 from the middle of April to December, 1883, that the 

 following observations most apjily. I have, however, 

 introduced a few remarks on the Fauna of Orkney 

 generally, when I could do so on good authority; 

 but as Messrs. Baikie and Heddle's Natuial History 

 of OrJxney, i:)ublished in 1848, is still the best book 

 on the subject, I have rather left out what I covild 

 not verify myself than follow blindly a work so out 

 of date as this obviously is. 



A few words on the physical features of the island 

 may not be amiss here. 



Nearly the whole coast-line of Rousay is rocky, 

 i-ising in the north and east to cliffs of a considerable 

 altitude, these cliffs being the home of a goodly 

 luimber of rock birds so-called, as the Guillemot, 

 Razorbill, Kittiwake, &c. From the south-east to 

 the south-west the shore is more level, in places 

 covered with stones mostly flat and worn at the edges. 

 This apparently arises from the fact that tlie rock 

 is very soft, and easily sf)lit into large slabs, whicli 

 again break up into smaller but still fiat pieces. 

 These large slabs are much used for roofing cottages. 

 All the seaboard is more or less cultivated, more so 

 at Wasbister and Sourin on the north and east sides, 

 where there is a greater extent of comparatively 

 level ground, the moorland rising immediately behind 

 to a height of between 800 and 900 feet. 



There are some six lochs on the island, three of 

 considerable size. T^vo of these, called the " Muckle " 

 and "Little Waters," are connected by a small burn, 

 and their united waters run down the Sourin Burn 



