292 Formatioti and Flora of a Shingle Island. [Sess. 



Eilean a Phortaire. — Eilean a Phortaire is slightly over 

 200 yards long and 140 yards wide, if we include the broad 

 shingle belt on the south ; and it rises gradually from east 

 to west till it reaches a height of 6 feet above the river. 

 All along its margin there are trees, forming a narrow belt 

 of woodland round a wide open space of a pastoral character. 

 This woodland belt contains numbers of alder and ash, with 

 a good many hazel and bird-cherry, a few sycamores, and 

 one or two birches and rowans ; and some willows are growing 

 on the extreme edge and on the shingle. The trees are 

 mostly large and well -grown, except at one corner on the 

 S.E. Underneath the trees are quantities of dog's-mercury 

 and wild hyacinth, a good deal of wood-sage, here and there 

 a patch of red campion or creeping buttercup (E. repens), 

 some primroses, a fair sprinkling of wood-sorrel and self- 

 heal, and a little wood crane's-bill and wood loosestrife. 

 There are several lady ferns and one or two male ferns ; also 

 a few lemon-scented ferns (Lastrsea Oreopteris), and one or 

 two tiny hard ferns : but these last two species do not seem 

 to be thriving well. 



The central open space is only broken by four large ashes 

 near the eastern end. In August and September it is ablaze 

 with ragwort, underneath which are quantities of wild pansies, 

 creeping buttercup, and self-heal, and a good deal of sheep's- 

 sorrel. There are also many grasses ; but these form only 

 short turf, the flowering stems having been eaten off, I 

 imagine, by rabbits. One well - defined oval area at the 

 eastern end, 75 yards by 30, is rather different in character, 

 having scabious (S. Succisa) as the dominant plant, with a 

 sprinkling of golden-rod and primroses ; and here the ragwort 

 is almost entirely absent. 



We were told that Eilean a Phortaire has been a wooded 

 island as far back as could be remembered ; and the largest of 

 the trees appear to be about 100 years old. It was for a 

 time under cultivation, crops of potatoes, turnips, corn, rye- 

 grass, and hay having been raised there, and cows some- 

 times pastured, up till 1903. But the last crop (corn) was 

 destroyed by rabbits, and since then the island has not been 

 used. 



The western island is more recent: 40 or 50 years ago it 



