Ornithology of St. Kilda. 79 



anclibrage of St. Kilda is one of the finest on our coasts, but 

 should bad weather threaten_, the mariner must make all 

 possible haste out of the treacherous bay, or do as Mr. Mac- 

 kenzie does, make all snug, drop another anchor, and abandon 

 his vessel to her fate, to ride out the storm or go to the 

 bottom ! 



I left St. Kilda by the steamship ' Dunara Castle,^ which 

 paid the island a visit, remaining several hours whilst her 

 passengers inspected the wonders of the place. She after- 

 wards made a circuit of the entire group, steaming round the 

 islands, and firing a gun at intervals to scare the birds from 

 the cliffs. The wild grandeur and picturesqueness of St. Kilda 

 and its neighbouring isles can only be seen to advantage 

 from the water; then the endless variety of form and colour 

 which their impressive headlands and lofty cliffs assume may 

 be viewed in all their lonely sublimity, the scene being con- 

 stantly vignetted in the countless myriads of sea-birds that 

 literally darken the air. I left the ' Dunara Castle ' at Loch 

 Tarbert, and came on to Dunvegan in the mail-packet, which 

 had a long tedious voyage across the Minch, and finally 

 landed me in Skye at three a.m. on Tuesday the 17th of June. 

 I have appended the St. -Kilda names of most of the birds in 

 the following list, as they will in many cases be found to difi'er 

 from the Gaelic names in use amongst the Highlands. 



Haliaetus albicilla. 



The White-tailed Eagle can only be regarded as an acci- 

 dental visitor to St. Kilda. It would probably breed there 

 regularly were it left unmolested ; but as soon as the birds 

 have made a nest, the natives draw lots as to who must under- 

 take the perilous task of descending the cliff and setting fire 

 to the structure. The St.-Kildans are afraid that the Eagles 

 would destroy their sheep and lambs. 



Falco gyrfalco (?). 



Mr. Mackinnon, presumably a resident of St. Kilda, in- 

 formed J. Macgillivray that the Gyr Falcon bred on the main 

 island of the group, and that when he visited a nest the old 

 birds attacked him violently (Macgillivray, Brit. B. iii. App. 



