350 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



towards the islanders which his father had initiated. It 

 is to this gentleman that the St. Eildans are indebted for 

 the erection of their present comfortable little dwellings, 

 the houses having been built by him purely from philan- 

 thropic motives, without any extra rent being charged. 

 When Sir John was getting old, and he having no 

 children, he decided to sell the island hack lo MacLeod of 

 MacLeod, the father of the present Chief, and thus about 

 31 years ago the island passed again into the possession of 

 I ho family whose original acquirement of it date- hack 

 for several centuries. CTnder the mild sway of the present 

 generous landlord, the St. Kildans can look forward with 

 confidence to a continuance of just and considerate 

 treatment. 



I was fortunate in getting a calm day for visiting Stack 

 Lii, one of the most interesting bird stations in the whole 

 St. Kildan group. This huge rock mass is upwards of 

 500 feet in height, and the top and sides are so crowded 

 with Gannets sitting on their nests, and the rocks are <<> 

 plastered with their droppings, that the whole upper part 

 of the Stack appeals perfectly white when viewed from a 

 distance, whilst lower down long Lines and streaks of 

 white indicate additional nesting ledges. From the sea, 

 even on near approach, the rock appears quite inaccessible, 

 but the climb is not so difficult as it appears to be, as the 

 ledges are much broader than they look. The landing is 

 particularly interesting. The boat approaches a perpen- 

 dicular wall of rock, which may be any tiling from twelve 

 to twenty feet or more in height, according to the state of 

 the tide, for the ascent of which no means are apparent. 

 In a Jedge above the rock wall, however, a small iron 

 staple has been fixed, and the first thing to be done is to 

 throw the noose of a rope over this. As tin 1 staple cannot 

 be seen from the boat, the operation requires some nicety. 



