SHAPINSAY COPINS A Y. 3 3 



111 our chapter on the physical features of the islands we have 

 given an account of the principal plantations, but we may add that 

 no house of any age is without some amount of trees round it, 

 both, no doubt, for appearance and shelter. 



SHAPINSAY. 



This island, perhaps more than any other, shows to what extent 

 cultivation has increased in the Orkneys. In the Farmer for April 

 1866 it is stated that Shapinsay contains about 7000 acres, of 

 which, fifteen years previously, only 730 were under cultivation, 

 but that now (i.e. 1866) 5000 have been brought under the plough. 

 Since then, we believe, even more land has been taken in, until 

 there is little or no waste land left. The coast is, as usual, very 

 rocky ; and Elswick Bay, shut in as it is by Helliar Holm, is a 

 safe anchorage for vessels. There is one loch on the island, which 

 we are informed is good for ducks in winter. 



One or two islands and skerries, lying between Shapinsay and 

 Kendall on the mainland, are great resorts of seals, and we have 

 counted thirty or forty here at one time, all P. mtulina. A few 

 Terns, Eider Ducks, and Eock Pipits breed on these islets, but in 

 no great quantities. 



COPINSAY. 



Lying off the east centre of the mainland, Copinsay is cele- 

 brated, even in Orkney, for the abundance of its sea-fowl. The 

 cliffs on its eastern side rise to a height of close on 300 feet, and, 

 amongst other birds, contains probably one of, if not the, finest 

 colonies of Kittiwakes in the United Kingdom. When disturbed, 

 these birds look, at some little distance off, like spin-drift covering 

 the face of the rocks. On the west side the ground slopes rapidly 

 down to the sea, and contains some good arable land, as also 

 does. Cornholm, which, with two other small holms, are connected 

 with Copinsay at low water. 



The Horse of Copinsay is a black rock lying to the north of 



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