AILSA CRAIG 101 



are repaired each summer, or the fabric would not hold 

 together.* 



Looking down from above, one would say that this 

 Gannet settlement was a fairly silent one, when it is 

 quite at rest and there is no disturbing element, such as 

 the presence of a climber on the ledges, at the same time 

 there is certainly more noise to be heard when one stands on 

 the shore below the Gannets, but even then it is principally 

 the cries of the Kittiwake which fall on the ear. Row out a 

 quarter of a mile, and, on a calm day, the hum of the busy 

 hive sounds far and clear over the water, nevertheless a 

 Gannet undisturbed is not the noisy bird which it has been 

 represented to be, however much it cackles when alarmed. 



Before leaving home I had made a mental note to observe 

 which way the Gannets and Guillemots, and other birds, sat 

 or stood on their ledges when undisturbed, and whether 

 they changed position according to the wind, which seemed 

 likely, because there is generally method in birds' actions, 

 and a reason for everything, even though we cannot discern 

 it. The result was that we found most of the Gannets 

 when sitting on their ledges faced the cliffs, turning their 

 backs to the sea, as we noticed did many of the Guillemots, 



* At St. Kilda the late Rev. Neil Mackenzie says the nests are renewed 

 from time to time as hatching goes on, and these materials decaying 

 annually, form a small moimd which gets yearly larger ("Annals Scottish 

 N.H.," 1905, p. 144). 



