1 92 1.] Birds of AWernei). 417 



and western seaboards are high and rocky, the cliffs being 

 rugged, much broken, and very picturesque. The height of 

 these cliffs varies from 230 feet to nearly 300 feet near 

 Telegraph Bay, their highest point. They fall almost verti- 

 cally into the sea, and there is, consequently, little or no 

 foreshore exposed on this side of the island at low water, 

 with the exception of Longy Bay, at the eastern termination 

 of the cliffs, where a comparatively large extent of sand and 

 seaweed -covered rocks is uncovered as the tide recedes, 

 affording feeding grounds for many Waders, ])rincipally 

 Oyster-catchers and Turnstones. 



From the high southern edge a plateau generally extends 

 towards the interior of the island, and then falls away 

 gradually to the northern shore. The main harbour and 

 roadstead are on this side, the coast being here, for the most 

 part, of sand and shingle, with here and there outcrops of 

 granite forming bold forelands in miniature between the 

 sand}^ bays. The western end and elevated interior of the 

 island are mostly under cultivation, fields being separated 

 by loosely built stone walls, or rubble and stone banks, the 

 interstices in which form convenient nesting places for some 

 of the smaller birds. These walls and banks are of no great 

 height, and are generally out of repair. A similar wall runs 

 along the greater part of the western and southern edges, 

 "divides the desert from the sown," and leaves between it 

 and the edge of the cliff a space some hundreds of yards in 

 breadth of rough stony land overgrown with furze, bracken, 

 bramble, heather, and coarse grasses. 



The eastern end of the island lies low and is unfit for 

 cultivation by reason of its rocky and sandy nature ; it is 

 overgrown with weeds, coarse grasses, and furze. 



The island contains no river, but here and there small 

 streamlets of fresh water are found. Most of the disused 

 stone quarries hold water, and near Longy Bay is a pond 

 filled with rushes. 



The island is almost destitute of trees, but there are some 

 rather fine ones in the vicinity of St. Anne's, which, however, 

 it is to be regretted, are in process of being -cut down by the 



