BIRDS THAT PREY AND SOME THAT DO NOT 481 



splintered into foam and spray. The occasional 

 fragments of wrecks strewn upon the beach, or 

 forming appropriate monuments to the graves of 

 drowned mariners, testify to the danger of the 

 coast, and add a solemn tone to the sea-song of this 

 desert isle. 



A marsh or swamp occupies the center of the 

 island, about which grow trees of moderate height, 

 being in a measure protected from the winds by the 

 surrounding hills or mounds whose sandy baldness 

 is scarcely covered by a thin growth of wiry grass. 

 At the foot of the hills, stretching to the water's 

 edge, are sandy flats, dotted here and there with 

 trees, gnarled, knotted, misshapen, and dwarfed 

 by exposure to tempest and lack of nourishing 

 soil. 



Each summer's vacation, as our yacht passed 

 this island, my curiosity has been excited by the 

 great number of birds which make it their home. 

 It was partly to satisfy this curiosity, and partly 

 to try the fishing, which is excellent in the 

 dangerous eddies of the tide, that induced 

 me, with two companions, to land upon this is- 

 land one quiet Sunday morning. As our little sail- 

 boat approached the lighthouse we saw a couple 

 of great northern divers swimming unconcernedly 

 about, or ever and anon disappearing beneath the 

 smooth waters, and that evening we could hear 

 their wild, maniacal laugh across the tide. 



After landing, we walked over the sandy flats, 

 disturbing 



