84 ANIMAL LIFE UNDER WATER 



The common seal still visits our shores in 

 small numbers, and recently I watched some 

 fishing in the sea off the coast of Cornwall. On 

 many of the outer islands north of Scotland both 

 the common and the grey seal land in consider- 

 able numbers. Doubtless during the war they 

 have become still more plentiful. 



In 1907 I paid a visit to a whaling station 

 near Tarbert, on the island of Harris, and in 

 the spring of 1914 I again visited this station 

 with my brother. Our intention was to spend 

 some time on one of the more distant islands, 

 so as to observe the feeding habits of gulls, 

 unaffected by the influence of man. On my 

 second visit I found that the old Norwegian 

 manager of the whaling station had passed away, 

 but his place had been taken by his son, who 

 remembered me and so offered to take my 

 brother and myself up to Rona on a whaler. 



Rona is an island some six miles in circum- 

 ference and is situated about forty miles north 

 of the Butt of Lewis. Countless sea birds of' 

 many varieties build on the island, and the pre- 

 cipitous cliffs are covered with kittiwakes and 

 divers of all sorts. When the weather permits 

 the common and the grey seal land in large 



