CHAPTER XXV 



SULE SKERRY, WEST OF ORKNEY, AND ITS BIRD-VISITORS 



On leaving the Flannan Islands, I was much interested 

 to learn that the lighthouse steamer Polestar was to 

 proceed to Sule Skerry with stores ere she returned to 

 Stromness. This was excellent news, for it would afford 

 me an opportunity of visiting and exploring another 

 outlying station, and of making the personal acquaintance 

 of light-keepers who had for some years sent me records 

 of the migratory birds visiting this remote islet. I 

 landed on the island on the morning of 22nd September 

 1904, and spent half a day reconnoitring, searching for 

 bird-visitors, and interviewing the keepers. 



Sule Skerry is a small island lying out in the Atlantic, 

 being 35 miles north-west of Hoy Head, Orkney, and 

 22 miles north-east of Cape Wrath, the north-western 

 extremity of the mainland of Great Britain. It, no 

 doubt, derives its name from its contiguity to the stack 

 lying some 4 miles west-by-south, which is a great haunt 

 of the Gannet, the Gaelic name for which is Sulaire. 

 As the terminal portion of its name implies, Sule Skerry 

 lies very low in the water, the highest portion, the centre 

 of the island, being only 45 feet above high water, while 



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