76 phesibent's address. 



seemed all beplastered with lime. "We could easily discern both 

 the young Grannets, and the old ones sitting in front of or near 

 to them on sloping shelves of the rock, where there seemed to 

 be no footing. Here and there, on smaller ledges, Guillemots 

 and Eazor Bills were sitting on eggs or near their young; while 

 unnumbered Gannets were conveying seaweed or food, coming 

 and going, alighting and departing continuously. 



Our guide pointed out a ledge on which a Peregrine Falcon 

 had nested and reared her brood early in the year, some mem- 

 bers of which our friend assured us he had had the pleasui-e of 

 capturing. The ledge was situated under a beetling piece of 

 crag, below which was a vast chasm, and how any man could 

 attempt to reach the spot to secure the birds was more than we 

 could understand ; but our guide seemed to have more the in- 

 stincts of a bird than the caution of a reflecting man, for he 

 rushed wildly at one time over the edge of a fearful cliff in chase 

 of a little rabbit which we had alarmed. 



From the point where we were standing, and on which the 

 Gannets used not many years ago to build their nests, but which 

 has been in recent years quite deserted from the annoyance of too 

 frequent visits and molestation, we proceeded in an oblique and 

 upward direction to the grand breeding place on the eastern cliff. 

 This is a little below the cairn of stones erected on the highest 

 point, and close to what is called the garden terrace. 



From this dizzy spot we looked down into a much larger 

 Gannet nursery. It was also nearer to us and the top of the 

 cliff. Many of the old birds were sitting close by on the upper 

 edge of the cliff, but they moved quietly away on our approach, 

 with a croak of displeasure at the intrusion. Here we were near 

 enough to individualize the young birds as they sat demurely in 

 their whitewashed homesteads, clad in the purest ermine. It 

 was interesting to notice the gentle manner in which the old ones 

 alighted near their young, who stretched out their necks to re- 

 ceive from them the food which had been brought home after 

 some foraging excursion. 



The view from this isolated height was very fine ; the island 

 of May a few miles distant to the north, the sea covered over 



