10 40 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



we find in places an almost undisturbed flora. The close maritime sward, too, 

 which occupies considerable exposed tracts near the sea, appears to be only 

 slightly influenced by grazing, and its limits remain unchanged. Among 

 the few spots on the island accessible to man, but inaccessible to sheep, are 

 some small sea-stacks which rise out of the sea beside Doontraneen near the 

 lighthouse, and Kinnatevdilla, or Beetle Head, the most westerly point of the 

 island. These were explored by swimming and climbing, but, owing to their 

 small size, not much can be learned from them. The dense, deep masses 

 of Festuca ovina and other plants in such places contrast strongly with the 

 closely nibbled grass of the adjoining slopes. 



The Moorland. — The flora here has been disturbed by grazing, by 

 burning, and by turf-cutting ; and grazing in particular has probably greatly 

 altered the appearance — if not so much the flora — of the far-extending moor- 

 land formation. Writing on the same question in the Faeroes, Ostenfeld 

 says: — "Indeed, one wonders how the Faeroese vegetation would look if 

 there were no sheep. . . . The character and features of the vegetation 

 outside the enclosures in the lower zones of the Faeroes are in a high degree 

 due to the grazing of sheep." 1 "While on Clare Island it is difficult to point 

 to any particular species which has been driven from the heath-land area by 

 man or sheep, or to any, save a few annuals about fences or turf-stacks, 

 that owe their presence to the same cause, there can be no doubt that the 

 old original formations have been largely broken up and dispersed. 



The Faem-lasd occupies two areas : the one running for three miles 

 along the southern shore of the island; the other lying in a basin fronting 

 the north-eastern shore ; their position and limits being determined by the 

 presence of a certain amount of soil and of shelter. Around the edges of these 

 areas, and on uncultivated knolls within them, a shrubby or grassy vegetation 

 is developed, and fields left untilled run back to a poor vegetation in which 

 grasses predominate ; it seems clear that grassy scrub formed one of the 

 aboriginal types of vegetation. The remaining patches of native woodland, 

 consisting of low scrub, are found on steep or rocky places mainly within 

 this area. They have evidently been diminished by farming operations, and 

 largely by grazing, and are still (as along the north face of the ridge 

 running west from the harbour) being trampled and torn by cattle and sheep. 

 The indications are that a good deal of the drier and steeper slopes of the 

 farm-land area was formerly occupied by scrub, with a grassy woodland 

 undergrowth, the flatter and wetter parts being occupied by beds of willows. 



As mentioned elsewhere, the remains of Scotch Fir and other trees, of 



1 Botany of the Faeroes, p. 894. 



