Mingulay of the Cliffs 



the sea. Many of the birds were carrying fish to their 

 young. 



Rain had commenced to fall before Mingulay was reached, 

 and the outlook for our stay on the island was a none too 

 pleasant one, nor did a playful — so we were assured on our 

 return to civilization — bull, which knocked down one of the 

 party while he was wrestling with a heavy camping outfit, 

 pinning him down and incidentally breaking our carefully 

 packed supply of eggs, tend to make matters assume a more 

 rosy prospect. 



After a night of mist and rain the next morning was wild 

 and stormy, with half a gale blowing from the north-east, 

 and the great cliffs on the western side of the island were 

 filled with the spirit of the storm. A heavy sea was running, 

 and the long Atlantic rollers dashed themselves against the 

 precipitous rocks, hurling the spray far up their black 

 weather-beaten sides. 



So great was the force of the wind, and so insecure and 

 water-logged the top of the cliff, it was impossible to 

 venture near the thousands upon thousands of nesting 

 guillemots and razorbills, but it was interesting to see a 

 peregrine emerge from a high rock and circle overhead, by 

 her hoarse and repeated shrieking showing that even at this 

 late date she was still tending her young. Throughout the 

 day the gale continued, but by next morning — August 6 — 

 the wind had moderated, and the sun shone brightly. 



Although Mingulay is the nesting-ground of such enor- 

 mous numbers of sea fowl, the rocks are almost everywhere 

 precipitous, and it is in only one or two places that it is 

 possible to climb down to where t le birds are nesting. At 

 one point — immediately below Biulacraig — the rock drops 

 sheer 700 feet, and almost the whole way up the cliff were 

 guillemots and razorbills nesting, the latter birds more 

 numerous at the highest elevations. How do such birds 

 succeed in shepherding their solitary chicks to the surface 

 of the sea, so many feet below them, without accident ? The 



lOI 



