ROCK-FOWLING IN ST. KILDA. 359 



taking the white on the fowler's breast for a resting-place in the rock, 

 fly directly towards it, and endeavour to cling to it ; when the fowler 

 immediately takes them with his hand, and after wringing their 

 necks, suspends them to his girdle, or throws them in a heap at his 

 feet. The fowler generally continues these operations throughout the 

 whole night, and sometimes with astounding success as many as 

 four hundred fowl being* sometimes taken by an expert fowler in one 

 night. 



When there is no room on the rock to lay the birds as they are 

 taken, the fowler, as soon as his belt or game-bag is full, ties the 

 signal line to it, and telegraphs to his companions to haul it up, which 

 they do ; and having secured the birds, instantly haul back the line 

 to the fowler. But when there is space sufficient on the rock to 

 deposit the birds as they are captured, the fowler never signals, 

 except in case of emergency, until the morning. 



The St. Kildians have used this art of fowling in connection with 

 the piece of white linen on the breast through many ages. It was 

 purely the invention of the ancient natives of that island. 



Besides the more costly and valuable fowling-rope already de- 

 scribed, the fowlers of St. Kilda use another made of horse-hair, 

 termed a rock-line. But this is of far less value, and is only about 

 nine or ten fathoms in length .It is used in places less stupendous and 

 less difficult of access than those explored by means of the principal 

 rope. 



St. Kilda is also a well-known resort of solan geese, and the St. 

 Kildian fowlers are particularly expert in capturing them ; but to 

 such persecution are those birds subject, that it is almost astonishing- 

 there are any left in the island.* They are objects of the fowler's 

 attacks at all seasons of the year. In the month of March, just 

 before they begin to lay, the rock-fowlers seek them in the night 

 time ; and creep upon them so stealthily that they snatch them from 

 their roosts without disturbing others which may be roosting beside 

 them. The fowler employs besides, the very cunning stratagem of de- 

 positing the first captive goose as soon as killed among its living com- 



* "In some localities, as on the island-rock of St. Kilda and others of the 

 Hebrides, the gannets congregate in vast numbers. Twenty-two thousand birds, 

 besides immense numbers of eggs, are annually consumed in St. Kilda alone, with- 

 out seriously injuring the colony. The birds are still so numerous there, that it is 

 supposed they destroy annually a hundred millions of herrings." The Sea-side 

 Book ; by W. H. Harvey, M.D. Fourth edition, page 294 : A.U. 1857. 



