102 HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 



to that more numerous class which loves and appreci- 

 ates nature, beauty and repose, without laying claim 

 to any of those high titles, the little island is replete 

 with interest and charm, and they return again and 

 again where : 



" midmost of the murderous water's web 

 All round it stretched and spun, 



Laughs, reckless of rough tide and raging ebb, 

 The loveliest thing that shines against the sun." 



Sark is a very small island ; only about three and 

 a half miles long, and not more than one and a half 

 miles wide in its broadest part, but it is all compact of 

 loveliness ; surrounded as it is by cliffs honeycombed 

 with caves hollowed out of its ramparts of gneiss and 

 granite by the action of the sea, in front of which 

 great rocks stand out as sentinels, the home and nest- 

 ing-place of innumerable sea-birds. Of these the most 

 remarkable are the two great rocks named " Les Aute- 

 lets." 



" The black bright sheer twin flameless Altai-lets, 

 That lack no live blood sacrifice they crave 

 Of shipwreck and the shrine subservient wave." 



On these I have seen cormorants, guillemots and 

 kit ti wakes nesting at the same time, each species of 

 bird having appropriated distinct ridges and ledges as 

 its own peculiar property, and none encroaching upon 

 or interfering with that of its neighbour. The guille- 

 mots nested highest of all, and their darting flight to 

 the sea in search of food was a revelation of grace and 

 beauty. As I stood below their home at low tide they 

 skimmed over my head at a great height at a pace and 

 angle which would have taxed the skill of a De Grey, 

 although far be it from me to suggest that a great 



