president's address. 291 



beauty, taking in the range of the Cheviots and some of the 

 more distant Scottish hills, sweeping round over a great extent 

 of country to Tynemouth in the south ; to the east the eye 

 ranges over a great expanse of sea the Farne Islands lying as 

 it were at our feet, with all their memories of saints and an- 

 chorites and sad histories of shipv/recks. To these, the great 

 feature of the excursion to naturalists, we Avent by boat from 

 Bambro' on the morning of the 21st, having sent a special mes- 

 senger to North Sunderland to bespeak a boat for those who 

 might come direct from Newcastle thither. 



The nearest of the Fames is distant from Bambro' Castle 

 about two miles, the most distant some six or seven. They 

 number from fifteen to twenty-five (each having its distinctive 

 name) according to the height of the tide, several of these being 

 submerged at high water, and others, which at low water appear 

 as one island, becoming a little group at certain heights of the 

 tide. They are composed of basalt, similar to the rock on which 

 Bambro' Castle stands. The largest is the inner Farne or House 

 Island, in extent about sixteen acres, the larger portion being 

 rock. There is a scanty vegetation on the part covered with 

 soil, which is of a peaty nature. There is a lighthouse, a small 

 chapel restored a few years ago by the late Archdeacon Thorj), 

 the remains of an old building called "Prior Castle's Tower," 

 in which Archdeacon Thorp made a few rooms habitable for 

 occasional residence. The south and west faces of this island 

 have clifi's of basalt seveiaty or eighty feet in height ; on the 

 eastern side there is a sloping shore, affording a convenient 

 landing place for boats. On some islands to the east, called 

 the " Wide -opens," are some of the breeding places of the 

 birds, viz., the Terns and the Eider or St. Cuthbert's Ducks. 

 The Staple and Brownsman, forming one island, but divided 

 at high water, are the great breeding places for the sea-fowl ; 

 and the " Pinnacles," high basaltic columns rising abruptly from 

 the water, separated by a narrow channel from the island, arc 

 very curious, every ledge occupied by the Guillemots and other 

 fowl. On some of the narrow unprotected ledges of stone the 

 birds lay their eggs in apparently the most insecure positions, 



