4:2 THE SOUTH ISLES. 



or non-breeding birds : one appeared to be a very small one. Other 

 birds were a few Sheldrakes, a pair or two of Hooded Crows, but 

 no Eiders. 



S. KONALDSAY. 



Even in Low's time, S. Eonaldsay was described by that 

 gentleman as the granary of the South Isles, and cultivation has 

 certainly not gone back since then; indeed, when visiting the 

 island in June 1889, we saw fresh ground being broken up. No 

 wonder then that bird life is getting so much scarcer in the Ork- 

 neys; many of the indigenous birds are driven away before the 

 plough, and from the lack of cover, this loss is not compensated 

 for, at present, by any increase of such birds as can live under 

 the new state of things. 



Of the two sides of the island the east is by far the more 

 interesting. Around St. Margaret's Hope, which is an excellent 

 harbour, and where the principal town of the island stands, there are 

 a few gardens, and on the south-west of the harbour some whins, 

 which attract a few Blackbirds, Eobins, and Linnets. Most of the 

 ground out to Hoxa Head is cultivated, with a few patches of 

 moorland here and there, and the south-east side consists of grassy 

 slopes. The Head itself is rocky, and a few Herring Gulls, Cor- 

 morants, and a pair or two of Hooded Crows, appeared to be 

 breeding there. Widewall Bay, at the head of which is a small 

 extent of sandy links, is a fine landlocked harbour, but too 

 shallow to be of much use for shipping ; its coast-line is mostly 

 sandy. Almost immediately opposite Widewall Bay, but on the 

 other side of the island, the sand links again appear, and are, 

 though small, rather more extensive. 



The cliffs on the east coast are fine, though, except in one or 

 two places, not so precipitous as in many of the other islands, 

 being much intersected by green ledges, and containing many long 

 grassy slopes. There is a depression of some extent at Windwick, 1 

 where there is a bay, but north and south of that the land rises to 

 between 200 and 300 feet. From the nature of the rocks, Guillemots, 



1 The termination "wick" signifies, in Orkney and Shetland, a bay. 



