A RECENT VISIT TO THE FARNE ISLANDS. 301 



Island, the view is most extensive. To the east an horizon of 

 water, seldom at rest, but to-day 



" The long, grey, horizontal wall of the dead-calm sea." 



Northward, beyond the outer island of the group called the 

 Megstone — the nesting quarters of the Common Cormorant — lies 

 Holy Island, with noble ruins of Monastery and Priory Church, 

 and the white lighthouse at the end of a sandy spit ; beyond 

 these is the entry to the Tweed, and in the greyer distance 

 rises the stern rock-bound coast of Berwickshire, towards St. 

 Abb's Head. Westward, beyond the Inner Fame, supreme in 

 its grandeur of position, stands " King Ida's lordly pile," Bam- 

 borough village and grand church, backed by the low irregular 

 ridge of Spindlestone-heugh — low crouched and like unto a 

 sleeping dragon, and on the outer blue are " Cheviot mountains 

 lone " — Cheviot itself and Hedgehope being the most prominent. 

 Turn southward, miles beyond the seal-frequented skerries, and 

 a fit rival to Bamborough in the grandeur of its site, towers dark 

 Dunstanborough, with haunted caverns and wild legend of Sir 

 Guy the Seeker, and beyond this again the far-stretching, rocky, 

 and irregular line of coast to Alnmouth Bay and Tynemouth. 



On one of the Wedums we found a most interesting colony of 

 Sandwich Terns, some hundreds in number, the largest Tern of 

 the three species nesting on the islands. They are particularly 

 sensitive to interruption, so our inspection of the nesting-place 

 was only cursory. The grating call is audible at a great dis- 

 tance at sea, and is sufficient at any time, when recognised, to 

 mark the whereabouts of the bird. The eggs — two in number — 

 are of great variety and beauty ; they were placed in shallow 

 depressions, and in regular terraces at the higher part of the 

 island. Amongst and near them were a few eggs of the Arctic 

 and Common Terns, which also nest in large numbers on the 

 Wedums. We noticed two or three pairs of shy, restless Oyster- 

 catchers about, and, by carefully looking the ground over, found 

 two sets of eggs, placed in slight depressions amongst loose 

 shingle and gravel, difficult to distinguish even when pointed out, so 

 nearly did they assimilate with their special environments. The 

 Oystercatcher is a handsome-looking fellow in his pretty pied 

 plumage and red legs and bill, as he sits conspicuous on some 

 elevated rock. We had constantly during the day heard their loud 



