On Crag and Sea-cliff. 253. 



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buttress the western isle of Soay, though not so 

 high, are in their way as picturesque; whilst both 

 islands literally swarm with birds, some of them the 

 most local in the British avifauna. Then lying away 

 to the north, four miles from St. Kilda, in lonely 

 isolation, towers the lofty island rock mass of 

 Borreay, with its two attendant satellites, Stacks Lii 

 and Armin, all sacred to the Gannets that in tens 

 of thousands crowd upon them during the summer 

 months. This island itself rises nearly sheer in 

 parts a thousand feet or so from the ocean. Un- 

 doubtedly the grand secret of the charm that has 

 attracted sea-birds in such numbers to these rocky 

 islets is their utter isolation and loneliness, combined 

 with the vast food supply furnished by the surround- 

 ing sea. These islands are far without the ocean 

 highways of vessels; they are rarely approached by 

 man; whilst the small number of people quite an 

 ideal commonwealth in its way that live there are 

 sensible enough to treat the birds fairly, and not 

 literally to kill the Geese that lay the golden eggs. 

 They farm the birds as an agriculturist would his 

 land, or a stock-keeper his sheep and cows; they 

 allow them a close time, or perhaps the place is so 

 extensive that these few fowlers are unable to ex- 

 haust the store, and the supply is kept up by natural 

 increase. Be this as it may the birds live and 

 thrive, and this notwithstanding the fact that the 



