FAIR ISLE, THP: BRITISH HELIGOLAND 45 



and at Skroo, at the north-east limit. Both are 

 furnished with powerful white revolving lights, the beams 

 of which are arranged into groups. 



The island is hardly known to the general public 

 save perhaps as the scene of the wreck, in the autumn 

 of 1588, of "El Gran Grifon," one of the ships of the 

 Spanish Armada, whose crew spent several months there 

 in a more or less starving condition, and in great 

 wretchedness, for the dwellings of the inhabitants were 

 then the filthiest of hovels, and the natives poverty- 

 stricken in the extreme. It can boast, however, of 

 having received some distinguished visitors in the past, 

 for Sir Walter Scott landed there on 14th August 18 14, 

 and spent several hours on the island ; and Mr R. L. 

 Stevenson paid a short visit on 21st June 1869. 



I have visited Fair Isle for five consecutive autumns, 

 1 905- 1 909, remaining for five weeks on each occasion ; 

 and I made three visits in spring — namely, in 1909, 19 10, 

 and 191 1. On my first two visits I had the valuable 

 co-operation of Mr Norman B. Kinnear, and since then 

 George Stout, a Fair Islander, who had been trained by 

 Mr Kinnear and myself, has rendered me great service. 

 During the springs and autumns of 1909, 19 10, and 

 191 1, Her Grace the Duchess of Bedford added materi- 

 ally to the results obtained. 



In the year 1908 the investigations entered upon a 

 new era. Being then convinced that the island was a 

 most important station for observing the movements of 

 migratory birds, I determined, if the necessary help were 

 forthcoming, to obtain a day-to-day record of its 

 feathered visitors ; to appoint, in fact, an observer 

 whose whole time would be devoted to the investiga- 

 tions. Thanks to the generosity of a few friends, I was 



