238 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vni. 



The young Fulmars form the chief food supply of the 

 natives of St. Kilda, and it is about the 12th of August 

 that they commence to collect them. Each family has 

 a certain piece of cliff allotted to it, and the harvest 

 of birds from each plot varies rather considerably in 

 each season. I should like to have stayed on the island 

 to see the collecting of the birds, but so late in the season 

 it is rather a risky proceeding to remain, for the weather 

 might happen to be stormy when the last boat was due 

 and in that case it would not call, and you would be 

 stranded until the following May — ^not a pleasant out- 

 look with a busy lecture season just approaching ! So 

 I did not risk it. When my boat was due it was so late 

 that we did not think it would call, especially as a strong 

 wind was blowing, and I had made arrangements to 

 leave by a trawler that had put into the bay, but happily 

 the steamer arrived. 



