SULISGEIR 153 



the rocks' are white with, and deep in, Gannets' excrement, 

 and the big clumsy nests, some few with fresh clean, many 

 more with rotten or hard-set eggs, or young in various 

 stages, squelch beneath the tread almost ankle-deep. It is 

 easy to clamber, and even to run here, at least in dry weather, 

 because the foothold is good. The stench was overpower- 

 ing, but what must it be in wet weather would beggar 

 description. The nests were masses of putrid seaweed. 

 Sulisgeir is indeed a desolate isle. To the -left of the 

 landing-place a big spur runs out, populated all over as above 

 described. A number of rudely constructed stone huts, 

 tolerably comfortable and wind-proof — about a dozen in all 

 — have been erected for refuge houses by the Ness men, 

 who come over to take the eggs and birds. Their visit this 

 season must have been recently paid, as close round the huts 

 lay innumerable Gannets' heads ; . . . . The Leac rock 

 or flat-headed spur of the southern gable-end of Sulisgeir 

 is covered with Gannets, as is the whole east face and the 

 somewhat rounded off, or terraced, tops of the solid cliff, 



and certain spots also of the western face At every 



second Gannet's nest lay a herring or two fished up from 

 the deep." 



Sulisgeir's wild and rugged aspect is well shown in the 

 photographs taken for Mr. Harvie-Brown by Mr. ^^^ Xorrie, 

 one of which I have Mr. Harvie-Brown's permission to make 



