BURHOU. 
N crossing from Southampton to Jersey or Guernsey, the first of 
the Channel Islands to come in sight is Alderney, which lies on 
the horizon to the left like a little grey cloud. Between 
Alderney and the ship’s course there may be distinguished in clear 
weather a low bank of land, very little elevated above the level of 
the sea. This is Burhou, the most lonely and exposed island in the 
English Channel. It is uninhabited, except by sea birds and rabbits, 
but a small cottage provides shelter for shipwrecked sailors, or 
fishermen who may be driven to land there by stress of weather. 
In form the island is oblong, its total length from east to west 
being nearly three-quarters of a mile, including a small detached 
fragment, called Little Burhou, at the western end, which is 
separated from the main island by a narrow gully laid bare at low 
water. The surface of the land slopes upwards to a slightly elevated 
central ridge, but the highest ground is hardly, if at all, more than 
thirty-five feet above high-tide level. Huge masses of rock, shaggy 
with lichens and weather-worn, are piled up in picturesque groups in 
many parts: here and there are shingly beaches filled with large, 
rounded pebbles, but the shore is nowhere precipitous, though 
extremely dangerous to approach by boat, owing to the multitude of 
surrounding rocks, and the force of the current. Everything about 
the island is wild, rugged, and storm-beaten, like the relic of a pre- 
historic age. 
Sea birds in countless thousands resort there to breed—mostly 
Puffins and Lesser Black-backed Gulls: and they are so unac- 
customed to the sight of man that during the nesting season they 
may often be captured by hand. The Puffins burrow in the soft, 
sandy earth, and lay their solitary eggs in rabbit burrows or other 
deep holes: but the Gulls make their nests on the ground, and at 
the height of the breeding time, at the end-of May and beginning of 
June, the nests are scattered about in such profusion that one must 
keep a sharp look-out in walking in order to avoid trampling upon 
the eggs. In spite of the Wild Birds’ Preservation Act, thousands of 
eggs are taken every year and eaten : and I can testify from personal 
experience that, when properly prepared, gulls’ eggs make a most 
savoury and appetising omelette. . 
The island of Burhou (pronounced Aurroo, with the accent on 
