220 [Proc. B. N. F. C, 



noiseless way among the reeds ; teal and wild duck have their 

 nests among the high watergrass ; overhead, the lapwing utter 

 their melancholy musical note, and the brown snipe, wheeling in 

 wide, rapid circles, produces that weird, bleating sound which 

 still puzzles naturalists to explain. On the flower-bespangled 

 heaths the rocks re-echo the cheerful chatter of wheatear, pipit, 

 and stonechat ; the yellowhammer sings his short, sweet song ; 

 the linnet pours forth his livelier lay, and, above all, the skylarks 

 soar heavenward, filling the whole air with music. Having 

 touched on the geology of Rathlin, the reader came on to speak 

 of a visit which Mr. Robert Patterson, Mr. Welch, and he paid 

 to the island in the spring of last year. Leaving Ballycastle 

 early one May morning under a cloudless sky, with the white 

 cliffs of Rathlin flashing back the morning sunlight, a light 

 southerly breeze wafted them across the Channel into Church 

 JBay, whence they made sail down to the west end of the island. 

 Once round Bull Point, the heavy surge of the Atlantic swell was 

 encountered, and the oars were got out. Now they approached 

 the great bird colonies, and the rock-ledges were lined with 

 razorbills and guillemots standing in close packed rows, while 

 in the water a constant commotion was kept up by the numbers 

 of the same birds that dived or fluttered away before the 

 approach of the boat. Doonmore, or the Great Stack, a huge 

 rock pillar that raises its perpendicular sides and dome-shaped 

 top to a height of some 200 feet above the sea, now appeared in 

 view. What a sight its top presented ! So thickly packed 

 were the guillemots that there did not appear to be standing- 

 room for another bird : it was a living mass of bird-life. As 

 the rock was neared, air and water alike became alive with 

 birds. Doonmore being inaccessible to all but the most ex- 

 perienced climbers— the last time it was scaled being some ten 

 years ago — a landing was effected on Stack-na-cally, from the 

 summit of which a magnificent view of the cliffs and sea-birds 

 was obtained. Then they rowed on below gigantic cliffs. The 

 air around was simply blackened by the innumerable birds that 

 rose in tumult as the boat advanced, yet apparently without 



