: 
48 Mr John MacGillivray on the Island of St Kilda. 
cially the Eider-Duck, which breeds there in considerable 
numbers. Soon after this, a thick fog came on, accompanied 
_ with rain, and as we had still 40 miles to go, without a com- 
pass, our situation became rather unpleasant, the more so, 
as it was judged a still greater hazard to turn back. Having 
proceeded about 20 miles further, we fell in with a large yacht 
belonging to the tacksman of St Kilda, who was on board, and, 
like us, on his way to that island. After following in the 
vessel’s wake for some time, we eventually lost sight of her in 
the fog. Several grampuses, Delphinus Orca, passed us from 
the westward, and I saw for an instant protruding from the 
water, the dorsal fin of a large basking shark, Selachus maxi- 
mus, a fish of frequent occurrence among the Hebrides during 
the summer months. There is something extremely interesting 
in the sight, when at sea, of any of the larger cetacea, their 
appearance is so sudden; and as each of these monsters of the 
deep raises his huge back from the water, noiselessly gliding 
into the silent depths below, it leaves an indescribable and 
perhaps unpleasant impression upon the mind. By this time 
the wind was judged to have shifted, and no landmark of 
course being visible, our only chance of ever making St Kilda 
lay in following in the course of the long strings of puffins, 
auks, and guillemots, and the small parties of gannets, which 
passed overhead almost incessantly, all flying in the same di- 
rection, or toward their home. Several fulmars were now 
seen for the first time, and land was judged to be not very far 
distant. Evening was approaching fast, and yet nothing 
could be seen but the monotonous expanse of waters, and the 
dreary fog which covered it as with a mantle. The boatmen 
had begun to lose all hope, and told dismal stories of boats 
leaving for St Kilda that had never since been heard of, and 
of others that had been several nights at sea, or glad to take 
shelter under a rock for a fortnight, as happened once to Mr 
in my collection, and the inspection of numerous skins of adults and young, 
seen with the Rev. Finlay M‘Rae, Vallay. About eighty of these animals 
are annually killed by a boat’s crew from North Uist, who visit the rock 
in the beginning of November. The seals are surprised at a distance from 
the water, and easily dispatched with clubs, though many are of large size, 
one which I measured being 7} feet in length, 
