FARNE ISLANDS AND THEIR BIRDS 163 



storm, and by desperate efforts saved the lives of nine 

 persons. We visited the very spot where this ship 

 was wrecked, and in calm weather the currents and 

 swell of the sea are not to be despised, and we were 

 left to imagine what it would be during a storm. 

 The more we became acquainted with this rough 

 coast, the more we were convinced, that this was one 

 of the bravest acts ever performed by any in the long 

 roll of England's daughters who have risked their 

 lives for the sake of saving the lives of others. 



The surface of Fame Island, apart from the cliffs, 

 is covered with grass, sea-campion, nettles, and many 

 other wild flowers. There are few birds on this 

 island. The cliffs have only a few pairs of starlings 

 on them. Rock-pipits breed in fair numbers, con- 

 cealing their nests among the long thin grass. One 

 pair of skylarks bred there last spring, and the male 

 bird was often heard singing high up over his 

 romantic island home. Two meadow-pipits had a 

 nest near St. Cuthbert's Tower, and one would often 

 soar above the tower, then descend and finish his 

 song from the top of the old walls. It was interest- 

 ing to find that a pair of swallows had taken up 

 their abode for the first time in a small shed near the 

 tower, and when we were there, at the latter part of 

 June, they had a nest, and there was every hope 

 of their bringing up their family. We found a 

 blackbird's nest, and saw young birds flying about 



