THE OUTER HEBRIDES 



All around, the island gave one the impression 

 of having been handed over to wild creatures 

 from the beginning of things. From the sloping 

 rocks seals slipped lazily into the sea, and re- 

 mained near at hand, their round heads bobbing 

 like corks, and their soft eyes turned with wonder 

 in the direction of the strange invaders of their 

 peace. 



On the slightly raised plateau in the centre, 

 shags, oyster-catchers, and black guillemots fore- 

 gathered ; innumerable terns and gulls, including 

 the stately forms of the great black-backs hovered 

 around, or rested on the sea, and a colony of turn- 

 stones were busily engaged on the, shingle and 

 weedy stones. 



Now our attention was attracted to some tiny 

 birds flitting from rock to rock. They were 

 clearly of warbler-like build, but in their immature 

 plumage were not at first easy to identify. We 

 knew them at last as pied flycatchers, plainly 

 resting there on one of their strange journeys; 

 but with no tree, shrub, or scrap of cover of any 

 kind on the island, they seemed oddly out of 

 place. 



SEVEN HUNTERS. 



Ikying some 20 miles west of lycwis, and forming 

 an outpost of Great Britain, is a curious group of 

 islands known as the Fannans, or the Seven 

 Hunters. These may well claim the palm for 

 isolation, for they are guarded by precipitous 

 cliffs, which slope for 200 feet or more almost 

 sheer to the sea, and are normally inaccessible. 

 One only, Eilean Mor, may be said to be in- 

 habited for here is a lighthouse station, ap- 

 proached by a perilous stairway cut in the rock. 

 The remaining six rest in the ocean with the raven 

 and the peregrine in permanent ownership. Al- 

 though they possess little or nothing in the way of 

 cover, usually associated with bird life, the 



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