102 WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA. 



point of View,' at "St.' Kilda is the prodigious flock 

 of Puffins' on Soa. ' We determined to go thither 

 the first ' time a t fa^puraKle spell of weather gave 

 us an opportunity. The morning of June 22nd was 

 deemed suitable by all the weather-wise old men ; and 

 after a wearisomely protracted debate upon various 

 matters affecting the Commonwealth, we started. 



When we reached that part of the coast lying 

 behind the village, we saw a lot of Shags and other 

 birds upon a promontory of rock that looked 

 approachable with the boat. It was decided to land, 

 and after a deal of manoeuvring bows on as usual, 

 we succeeded in getting ashore by the aid of ropes. 

 Once or twice, as I sat in the vessel's prow with 

 a leg dangling over each side ready to leap ashore, 

 I missed my chance, and her keel came bump, 

 bump down the steep rock as she was sucked back 

 upon the receding waters of a wave. 



We clambered about amongst a number of huge 

 detached boulders in search of something to photo- 

 graph, but found nothing of any value until my 

 brother, who had ascended by a tortuous climb from 

 ledge to ledge away to the left of us, discovered a 

 Shag's nest, containing three down-clad young ones, 

 in an open nook some thirty or forty feet imme- 

 diately above us. In order to examine the birds 

 and assist in the taking of their portraits I began 

 to climb straight up amongst the great loose crags 

 which at one place almost defied my best efforts on 

 account of their wall-like steepness. However, I 

 selected a fairly wide crevice, formed by two 

 immense rocks having fallen into somewhat similar 

 positions, and placing a hand and foot on either side, 

 literally worked my way upwards until I came to 

 a large stone which appeared to be firmly wedged 

 in between the two forming the crevice. I managed 



