53 
inaccessible * Captain Elwes visited the place in 18G8, ami con- 
sidered that it was “ as perfectly inaccessible as any nest can bo, 
owing to the way in which the rock overhangs.” + 
I here are cliffs at Staffa of basaltic formation which reach an 
altitude of 150 feet, but unbroken pillars are nowhere in Staffii 
higher than about 18 feet. 
On this same side of the bay formed by the curve of the cliff, 
the colums are not so regular, but near the ba.se in one or two 
l)laco3, they show in unusual symmetry. At the base of the 
columns a little further on, and on the east side of the bay, is a 
long slope of debris and turf, honeycombed with crevices and 
holes, b rom its highest point at the base of the cliff to the sea, 
on the slope, is j)robably 250 feet. Enormous are the legions of 
1 uflins brooding here, filling the air, and covering the sea with 
their hosts. Compared with all other rock stations of the Puffin 
which I have seen, the threo-and-a-half miles J of I’uffins of the 
Shiant Isles fir and away carry off the palm in numbers. The 
face of the basaltic precipices is also covered with Puffins, which 
nestle amongst the long loose tufts of grass, and bunches of bright 
green sorrel which cap each broken column. They tunnel 
deep into these tufts, and between them and the rock, and lay 
their eggs at the far extremities. On the summit of the cliffs the 
grass-slopes are tunneled in every direction for many yards back 
from the cliff-edge. On the east side of Garbh-eilean is another 
slope cpially populous with Puffins. Coming, as I then did, with 
all the memory of the great St. Kilda fresh upon me, nevertheless 
I can safely say, that for Puffins alone, the Shiant Isles wiU prove 
hard to surpass. 
* Of this eyrie Martin wrote more than 170 years ago (op. cit. 2nd ed. 
1746, p. 26) ; and Lord Teigniuouth also notices tlie fact of Eagles breeding 
on the idands in 1827 and 1829 (o;;. cit. p. 169). Martin also describes the 
ascent from the isthmus as “ Narrow, somewhat resembling a stair, but a 
great deal more high and steep, notwithstanding which the cows pass and 
repass safely, though one would think it unsafe for a man to climb” 
(loc. cit). 
t Vide ‘ Ibis,’ 1869, p. 2o. Captain Elwes on the “Bird Stations of the 
Outer Hebrides.” 
t There arc but few Puflins comparatively on Eilean-a-chille. A few 
nest close to the shepherd’s house. 
