34 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



of Stromness. The town is a curious and homogeneous 

 accumulation of small gray houses, piled one above 

 another on the sloping hill, and the nursery of many of 

 our bravest and most experienced sailors. The prin- 

 cipal thoroughfare, unpaved and sinuous, is so narrow 

 that in most places it would be impossible for two 

 vehicles to pass, and the bye streets are simply a series 

 of steps and stairs, and each side of which you may 

 generally touch with both hands at a stretch. As I 

 intended taking up my quarters here for the present. 

 I at once engaged my lodgings, which turned out so 

 comfortable, and my landlady, a Mrs. Spence by name, 

 was so attentively solicitous for my welfare, that I most 

 confidently recommend a sojourn under her roof, both 

 as to comfort, economy and position, to any future 

 traveller to this place. On the following morning, a 

 heavy rain having fallen during the night, I sallied 

 forth with my gun, and, free and unfettered as the 

 breeze itself, set out upon my first exploration of the 

 coast. 



It is very pleasant to wander forth in the exhilarating 

 morning air, surrounded with scenery as novel as it is 

 exciting. It is pleasant to pursue your morning 

 ramble, uninterrupted by the passing throng, over 

 country " unrailway-ed " and " unvilla-ed." No 

 anxious tourists who have lost their way ; no panniered 

 donkeys with their shouting attendants ; no slaughter- 

 ing Cockneys with their rusty artillery harassing every 



