158 JOTTINGS ABOUT BIRDS. 



houses was strewn with wings, feathers, and bones ; 

 the houses themselves smelt strongly of Fulmars ; 

 and in a dozen different ways I was reminded that 

 I was amongst a nation of fowlers. But few living 

 birds, however, were to be seen. The visitor on his 

 arrival is at once struck wdth the a[)parent scarcity 

 of birds, and it is not until he visits the cliffs that 

 the myriads of fowl are visible. The houses of the 

 St. Kildans are ranged in a long crescent about 

 four hundred yards from the shore of the Bay. 

 Behind and before them are the patches of culti- 

 vated ground, chiefly sown with grain and planted 

 with potatoes, enclosed by rough walls that keep 

 out the sheep and cows. Nearer the shore stands 

 the store, the little church, and the manse. St. 

 Kilda is supplied with an abundance of excellent 

 water, both from springs and the rivulets that 

 rise on Connacher. The steep sides of this hill 

 are bare of turf, and seared in many places by small 

 ravines worn out by the streams which dash down 

 in rainy weather. Upon climbing the hill in a 

 south-westerly direction from the village, and pass- 

 ino; over the shoulder between Mullach-scaill and 

 Connacher, a wild and novel scene is presented, 

 far more picturesque than that portion of St. Kilda 

 we have left behind us. Glen Mor the " Amazon's 



