BIRD LIFE ON THE SALTEES AND THE KERAGHS. 89 
While yet miles from the island one is struck by the hosts of 
Alcide dispersed through the surrounding sea. Gannets on 
lengthy pinions are seen, but these are chiefly immature birds, 
and none certainly breed on the Saltees. The rapid buoyant flight 
of the Manx Shearwater may be compared with that of the Guille- 
mot darting straight along; but, though numbers may be seen on 
the wing late in May, repeated search, continued after nightfall, 
has failed to discover the Shearwater or Petrel on land here. 
As we approach the island its central portion lookslow. This 
is cultivated by a farmer who lives there. Hills of granite rise 
towards either end, the whole southern end of the island being a 
rocky elevated tract of about fifty-six acres, rising to a hundred 
and ninety-eight feet above the sea, and girt with cliffs. This 
portion the sea fowl enjoy undisturbed. 
We land beneath the farmstead on the north-west side. The 
western shore is sloping and shingly. Here a few Ringed Plovers 
breed, and Whimbrels loiter on migration. Round a small lagoon 
in the shingle one or two pairs of Oystercatchers breed, and in 
an udjoining bean-field beside the sea, I saw last May an 
Oystercatcher sitting on three eggs among the young bean-stalks. 
The nest was a depression lined with little pebbles, obviously ' 
placed there by the bird. From one of the rabbit-holes near the 
lagoon, or in the warren beyond it, a Sheldrake usually takes 
flight and alights on the sea to watch the visitor. 
Crossing the island we find that the deep deposit of boulder 
clay which slopes so gently to the west is on the eastern side of 
great depth, and presents to the sea an indented margin of cliffs 
out of which innumerable masses of stone of all sizes project. 
Here we begin to realize the presence of those myriad birds with 
which the sea, the air, the cliffs, and the very earth beneath us 
is alive. Rows of Puffins stand blinking at us until we are 
within a few yards of them. Others startle us by issuing from 
holes beside us. The ground above all the cliffs (that margin 
the island except on the north-west) is usually honeycombed with 
the holes of this vast Puffin colony, which is considerably more 
than a mile in extent. In accessible places the Puffins lay far 
within their holes, but in the faces of the clay cliffs their eggs can 
frequently be seen from without. They lay on the Saltees early in 
May, but eggs have been taken there on the 22nd of June. 
But the Puffins are only one element of that vast display of 
