V 



FULMAR PETREL 



|HEN a keen bird-lover looks for the first time upon 

 a bird that he has never before seen in a wild state, 

 its surroundings have a great fascination for him, 

 and he seems to be standing on memorable ground. 

 My feelings were akin to this when, to-day, I 

 looked for the first time upon the Fulmar Petrel's home. On the 

 wild cliffs of St. Kilda and the adjacent islands there are countless 

 thousands of these interesting birds, and after landing on this little 

 out-of-the-world spot, I lost no time in taking my camera to the cliffs 

 on which they breed. It is hard to describe these marvellous cliffs. 

 Nowhere have I seen any to equal them for wild grandeur. Some 

 are covered with grass and are tenanted by myriads of Puffins ; 

 others are great bare, jagged boulders, one piled upon the other, 

 rising straight from the sea, and seeming to tower up almost to 

 the clouds. 



I was taken by one of the brave St. Kildan cragsmen to a 

 spot which was supposed to be easy of access, and I must confess 

 I envied the way in which my guide was able to run about the 

 cliffs. The narrowest ledges or the most precipitous walls of rock 

 had no terrors for him, and he skipped along them with bare feet, 

 or stood on the very brink of the most fearsome declivities, with 

 as much unconcern as he would have shown had he been on a 

 level pavement. I had many misgivings as to how I was to follow 



28 



