Skerryvore 



the ground, with a set of copper steps leading up to it. 

 From the top of the tower the roaring of the waves and the 

 rushing of the gale is heard, and a wild view lies beneath. 



The relief is soon accomplished, and we return to the 

 steamer, weighing anchor immediately and setting a course 

 for the lighthouse on Dubh Hirteach. 



One cannot but realise how lonely a life it is that the 

 lightkeepers lead, but there are many things of interest 

 to be noted if one is a lover of Nature, as the men so often 

 are. In the course of conversation I learned how on one 

 occasion a grey seal was seen to land on the rocks with 

 its captive, a good-sized cod. Although its victim was 

 not yet dead, the seal commenced methodically to skin 

 the fish, holding it firmly and ripping it up with its 

 flappers, afterwards tearing out the backbone. On another 

 occasion a seal was seen under water with a large cod, 

 which it had disabled but not killed. The seal was play- 

 ing with its victim in much the same way as a cat does 

 with a mouse, releasing the cod, and having watched it 

 for a while swimming feebly, pouncing on and seizing it 

 again. My informant also told me that only a few days 

 before the relief he noticed a solan goose come to the 

 surface of the water holding a fish across his bill. He 

 was in the act of shifting the position of his prize in order 

 to swallow it, when a black-backed gull swooped down, 

 snatched away the fish, and swallowed it before the sur- 

 prised solan had time to remonstrate.* 



On the passage to Dubh Hirteach the wind and sea 

 are with the boat, and she travels fast. Moving south- 

 wards on migration, companies of great shearwaters pass 

 by. In their build and flight they resemble their lesser 

 relative the Manx shearwater, skimming and gliding on 

 their powerful wings just above the crests of the waves, 

 and constantly "banking " to obtain the full advantage of the 



iVo/(;.— Solans almost invariably swallow their catch before emerging on the 

 surface after a dive. 

 I 113 



