CHAPTER VII. 



SEA-BIRDS AND THEIR HAUNTS. 



ALTHOUGtH at first sight tliis chapter may 

 -^-^ appear to overlap to some extent those on St. 

 Kilda and its feathered inhabitants, it will deal 

 largely with birds which do not breed on the 

 inaccessible home of Fulmar and Forked-tailed 

 Petrels. 



The ])ictures and text have been brought 

 together from such widely separated places as the 

 Fame Islands, Bass Pock, Ailsa Craig, Inner and 

 Outer Hebrides, and the Saltees off the south coast 

 of Ireland. 



During our visit to the Fames last sunnner we 

 were fortunate enough to be able to land upon tlie 

 Megstone one calm day, and study, to ovu* liearts' 

 content, the fine colony of Cormorants breeding- 

 there. The sun was hot, and the air almost still, 

 and directly we set foot on the rock our nostrils 

 were assailed by the foulest imaginable stench, 

 arising from pieces of fish in all stages of decom- 

 ])osition, dead young l)irds tram})led to incredible 

 flatness, and streams of liquid guano, which trickled 

 down the sides of th(» crag, and stood in festering- 

 pools in every crevice and declivity. 



Upon our a})proa('li, most of flu* old birds took 

 their depai'ture, and such of the young ones as 

 Avere able to leave their nests began to splash 



