CHAPTER XXII 



BIRD-MIGRATION AT ST KILDA, BRITAIN'S OUTERMOST 

 ISLE IN THE WESTERN OCEAN 



St Kilda enjoys the distinction of being the remotest 

 of all the Isles of the British Seas. It lies — 



" Far in the watery waste, where his broad wave 

 From world to world the vast Atlantic rolls " 



-T-in latitude 57° 48' 35" N., and in longitude 8° 35' 30" 

 W., and is over 40 miles west of the North Uist, the 

 nearest island of the main outer Hebridean group. 



From the year 1697, when Martin Martin published 

 the quaint and engaging account of his visit to St 

 Kilda, down to the present day, this tiny Atlantic 

 archipelago has been surrounded by a halo of 

 romantic interest which is still happily in the 

 ascendant. It owes this unique place among our isles 

 to a number of exceptional peculiarities and associa- 

 tions. Among these are : its extreme remoteness, 

 already alluded to, as the home of the most isolated 

 and hence unsophisticated community of Britons ; the 

 surpassing grandeur of its cliffs, stacks, and rock-scenery 

 generally ; and the marvellous hosts of sea-fowl which 

 annually seek its fastnesses as a cradle and nursery 

 wherein to rear their offspring. The further facts that 



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