116 THE BIRDS OF THE OUTER FARNES 



to fade, without being away from Pall Mall more 

 than a day. 



The best time to visit the islands is usually about the 

 last week of May or first week of June, to see eggs ; or, 

 to see the young birds, three weeks or a month later. 

 It was not until the 14th of June that we were able to 

 make the trip, but owing to the lateness of the season 

 we found ourselves early enough to see the eggs in per- 

 fection, scarcely any of the birds having hatched off. 



When we had arrived at Bamborough the afternoon 

 before, the weather had not been encouraging. It was 

 blowing a quarter of a gale, with heavy thunder- 

 showers; but in the evening the sky had cleared a 

 little and the sun found its way through the clouds, to 

 set in a wild confusion of banked reds, yellows, and 

 purples. We woke to find the morning bright, and by 

 the time we had breakfasted and found our way to 

 North Sunderland, three miles off, where a boat was 

 awaiting us, the wind had died away, and the only fault, 

 if any fault could be found with the day, was that there 

 was scarcely breeze enough for sailing. 



Our object being to see as much as we could of the 

 birds, and opportunities uncertain, as threatening clouds 

 manoeuvred still on the horizon, we steered at once for 

 the outer islands, the chief nesting- places, leaving a 

 mile or two to the left the inner group, which are well 

 worth a special visit : Fame, with its chapels and its 

 ' churn,' a rock-bridged cleft, through which at half-tide, 

 when the wind is blowing heavily from the north, the 

 sea is said to spout in columns ninety feet high, a 



