A VISIT TO SKOMER ISLAND. 437 



noticed about the cliffs, but the absence of all hawks surprised 

 us ; not even a Kestrel was visible. We were told that a pair of 

 Jr'eregrines had an eyrie upon the island, and that Buzzards 

 sometimes visited it. An old stone wall was pointed out to us 

 as frequented by Stormy Petrels, which place their nests, like 

 Wheatears almost, in the interstices of the stones; but we were 

 not fortunate enough to find what would have been to us one 

 ot these interesting nests. Partridges thrive very well on 

 bkomer, and m the season good bags are made. The island 

 possesses an immunity from rats. Mice are abundant, and are 

 looked after by numerous White Owls, which have their 

 Habitations among the rocks. 



_ While gazing on the myriads of sea-birds, we could not help 

 thinking what an enormous quantity of fish there must be in the 

 adjacent waters to maintain them, and what immense numbers 

 the birds must capture. When the young Puffins are hatched, 

 he old birds may be seen returning from fishing to their 

 burrows, with little fish hanging like ribbons, two or three on 

 either side of their beaks. These little fish are presumably 

 young herrings. But no doubt there are enough fish in the 

 green depths for all the birds, for all the seals, for all the larger 

 predaceous fish, and for all the fishermen who go after them, and 

 plenty over when the wants of all these are appeased to the full 

 heals are not scarce round Skomer, and inhabit the caves at the 

 base of the chffs. We were favoured by the sight of one. As 

 we sat among the sea-pinks (what singular cushions these plants 

 form !), on the side of the island looking down on one of the 

 havens the seal was immediately beneath, and in the clear 

 water his movements were perfectly visible. Every now and 

 then he would lift his head just above the surface, and gaze up 

 at us m a lazy indifferent manner, and then we could see him 

 smk again and slowly paddling beneath the water, among the 

 masses of many-coloured sea-weed. An ordinary sight this to 

 dwellers upon the island, but to landsmen like ourselves the 

 apparition of the seal appeared something to be preserved 

 among the pleasant pictures stored away in the gallery of 



The experiment has been tried on Skomer of removing 

 the eggs from the Gulls' nests and substituting hens' e^gs 

 which have been invariably hatched out, and the chickens then 



