BIED-LIFE AT THE FAENE ISLANDS. 



Wm. Eagle Claeke, 



MEMBEB OF THE BRITISH OEKITHOLOGISTS' THMON. 



There is not, so far as my experience goes, a more interesting scene 

 tlian that afforded by a visit to one of the great breeding stations of 

 the sea-fowl at the height of the season. Here, assembled within a 

 limited area, for a period extending over a few weeks, are vast 

 numbers of birds which at other times are scattered far and wide 

 over ocean and shore, then displaying a nature of extreme 

 wariness and suspicion, but now to be approached within a few yards, 

 thus affording to the field-naturalist a golden opportunity of making 

 himself familiar with their habits and plumage — to do which is his 

 special aim. To the ornithologist, such a habitat is a perfect 

 paradise, and even the outsider must indeed be callous to the claims 

 of Nature on our attention, for whom the scene has not a charm. 



As a breeding station, the Fame Islands present more than 

 ordinary interest, owing to a greater number of species resorting to 

 them than is usually found in like stations off the English coast ; in 

 this respect they are quite remarkable, and it is doubtful if they are 

 surpassed by any other locality in the British Isles, certainly by none 

 if area be taken into consideration. Another interesting feature is, 

 they mark almost the southern boundary of the distribution of the 

 eider duck in the breeding season, in fact the few miles from Coquet 

 Island to the Tweed include all the English localities in which it 

 breeds ; this being the chief of them. On two occasions have I 

 visited these islands — on the 18th of May, 1876, and on the 12th of 

 June, 1877 ; and I propose to go over the scenes of my second visit, 

 making such allusions to the first as may be desirable. Of course 

 such scenes can only meet with very inadequate treatment from the 

 pen. 



The Fames are a group of islets, rocks, and reefs, over twenty in 

 number, composed chiefly of basalt, lying off the Northumberland 

 coast near to its northern limit ; the nearest and largest island, known 

 as Fame Island, is about two miles from the mainland, and the 

 others stretch away from it in a north-easterly direction for a 

 distance of three miles. They may be reached by boat either from 

 North Sunderland or Bamborough, both of which are a few miles from 

 the railway from Newcastle to Berwick. 

 N. S., YOL. VI.— Jan., 1881. 



