41 ? 
1921.] Birds of Alderney. 
and western seaboards are high and rocky, the cliffs being 
rugged, much broken, and very picturesque. The height o£ 
these cliffs varies from 230 feet to nearly 300 feet near 
Telegraph Bay, their highest point. They fall almost verti¬ 
cally into the sea, and there is, consequently, little or no 
foreshore exposed on this side of the island at low water, 
with the exception of Longy Bay, at the eastern termination 
of the cliffs, where a comparatively large extent of sand and 
seaweed-covered rocks is uncovered as the tide recedes, 
affording feeding grounds for many Waders, principally 
Oyster-catchers and Turnstones. 
From the high southern edge a plateau generally extends 
towards the interior of the island, and then falls away 
gradually to the northern shore. The main harbour and 
roadstead are on this side, the coast being here, for the most 
part, of sand and shingle, with here and there outcrops of 
granite forming bold forelands in miniature between the 
sandjr bays. The western end and elevated interior of the 
island are mostly under cultivation, fields being separated 
by loosely built stone walls, or rubble and stone banks, the 
interstices in which form convenient nesting places for some 
of the smaller birds. These walls and banks are of no great 
height, and are generally out of repair. A similar wall runs 
along the greater part of the western and southern edges, 
44 divides the desert from the sown,” and leaves between it 
and the edge of the cliff a space some hundreds of yards in 
breadth of rough stony land overgrown with furze, bracken, 
bramble, heather, and coarse grasses. 
The eastern end of the island lies low and is unfit for 
cultivation by reason of its rocky and sandy nature ; it is 
overgrown with weeds, coarse grasses, and furze. 
The island contains no river, but here and there small 
streamlets of fresh water are found. Most of the disused 
stone quarries hold water, and near Longy Bay is a pond 
filled with rushes. 
The island is almost destitute d£ trees, but there are some 
rather fine ones in the vicinity of St. Anne’s, which, however, 
it is to be regretted, are in process of being cut down by the 
