Pollack, or whatsoever else would give us an opportunity of hooking it.

No sooner had we got our troll-lines out, with their little red indiarubbcr sand-eels spinning bewitchingly at the ends as the men rowed steadily alongside the rocks, than I felt a mighty tug at I, andmine. "A monster, by George!" thought fearful of losing him tightened my hold upon the line. This was a fatal mistake, iov it instantly parted, and my fish went off to consider, in the quiet of some dark cave many fathoms below, the baseness of the imitation he had secured.

Fortunately, the minister had a spare line on board, which he kindly lent me. It was baited with a real sand-eel, which had l)een captured in a despisable trickle of water running from the side of Coiiagher into the bay, had its skin taken off to make it look conspicuous, and then been lashed with white cotton thread to an artfully-concealed hook.

I had not had this line out more than half a minute before I felt another exhilarating jerk. The fish I had hooked plunged and kicked like a newly-haltered colt. I played him carefully for a while, and when I judged he had run the measure of his strength gently hauled him in. Directly he came alongside the boat, however, he bethought himself of his almost lost liberty, and with an angry slap of his tail rolled over and disappeared beneath the craft. I slacked the line instantly lest he should saw it in two across the keel, and he promptly dived. After another short tussle I worked him back to the side of the boat, where he lay on the surface of the water with his mouth wide open. Holding the line in my right hand I plunged my left into his gills and hauled him on board. He was a Coalfish weighing about twelve and a half pounds. f2

Mr. Fiddes caught a good- sized Pollack and one Coalfish before a monster of some sort broke his line, and left us with the single one which I was using.

I now requested Mr. Young to take a hand at ; but he would not touch it, declaring that,my line old sportsman though he was, the fun of watching my boyish pleasure and excitement was more to his liking than even the fishing itself. I caught several splendid fish in quick succession; and Finlay McQuien grew greatly alarmed at the way I was spoiling my clothes by dragging the voracious creatures over the gunwale of the boat. Once I had no sooner disengaged a fish and dropped the bait overboard, than another rose and snatched it before the leaden weight on the line had actually touched the water. Directly he discovered that all things are not quite what they seem he dived with a tremendous rush. The suddenness of the jerk made the line spin through my hand so fast that my fingers were hot with the friction.

By the time we reached the end of the Doon, the bottom of the boat was covered from stem to stern with dead fish of all sizes. My bootless feet and legs were wet and cold to the knees, but I was entirely oblivious of any feeling of discomfort whilst the sport lasted. After fishing for a little over an hour, w^e rowed homewards across the bay. I kept the minister's catch separate; and when I counted my own upon the beach, I had seventeen Coalfish of an aggregate weight of something between (nw. hundred and eighty and two hundred ])ounds.

News was sent up to the village tluit there was plenty of fish on the beach for everybody, and a nuniljcr of boys quickly trooped down to the Imid-ing place for a share, liefore any part of my catch

A GOOD CATCH.

was taken away, however, I sent for my brother, and although it w^as very late in the evening he managed to j^hotograpli me and my trophies.

When Sandy Campbell saw the boys dragging the fish past om- cottage, he told me that he recollected the time when the St. Kildans would not eat it, as they said it had no substance (oil) in it. They simply took the liver out of such as they

WRENS' EGGS.

The iq-iper and larger eggs are those of the St. Kilcla Wren, the lower ones are those oj the Mainland ]]'ren.

caught, and either cured the body for exportation or threw it to their dogs.

Whilst in Hirta I gave one bird particular attention, on account of tlic controversy which took place some years ago as to its claims to be considered a distinct species; and as I do not know any of Ihe disputants except ])y repute, what I here put down nuiy be taken as entirely iin})re-judiced either way. I refer to the Wren {Trog-lod/jtes parvulus) met with in St. Kilda. It may be worth while to mention Ix'fore going any further that I have been familiar with vyvvv note, movement, and attitude of its mainland re})resentative

all my life, as such exjDerieiice naturally affects my value as an observant witness.

I procured an adult male in St. Kilda, and found that it measured, from the point of its bill to the tip of its tail, exactly four and a quarter inches, and a specimen of the same sex in the South of P^ngland which was four inches in length. The beak, legs, toes and claws of the St. Kilda bird are a trifle stronger and lighter in colour, and the plumage generally much paler and more distinctly marked. This is especially noticeable on the back, which is barred transverselv with grevish and dark brown where the mainland bird is reddish brown with indistinct bars of a darker hue.

Its carriage and appearance are somewhat different, as it rarely, if ever, cocks its tail at that acute angle so characteristic of the Common Wren. In fact, it more often carries it as much depressed as that of a quiescent Meadow Pipit, even when singing. Its song is of about the same duration as that of the mainland bird, viz. from five to six seconds; is louder, less metallic, and much oftener uttered on the wing. I sometimes heard it within a few inches of my ear whilst standing perfectly still in a cleit for purposes of observation. I never once heard that familiar jarring note of alarm or anger so common in other parts of the British Isles where Wrens are to be met with. I examined five nests, two with eggs in, one lined with feathers ready to receive them, and two "cocks' nests." Both the latter I found myself; and as I had very good reason to believe that neither of them had been touched by human hands, I measured the aperture in each, and found it to be one and five-eighth inches in horizontal diameter;

whereas the hole in similar nests examined in England is generally not more than one and one-sixteenth. I did not take any measurements from the nests with eggs in, as they had been investi-gated by large rough fingers, which had, of course, destroyed the scientific value of anything in the way of horizontal diameter. The nests are larger,

ST KILDA WREN.

constructed of rougher nuiterials, and not so neatly made as those of mainland Wrens.

The eggs, although subject to the usual amount of variation in point of size, run larger, as will be seen from the illustration on p. 70, which has been prepared from a carefully-made photograph taken life-size with the camera directly over them, for purposes of comparison. My friend Mackenzie told me that although he has examined quite fifty nests during the time he has visited the island in the capacity of factor, he has never yet seen one

cantaining- more than six eggs. I have found nests in Yorkshire on more than one occasion containing seven and even eight.

For purposes of comparison, we have also made a photograph of a mainland fledgling AYren of about the same age, and give the pictures herewith side by side.

Curiously enough the Eider Duck, whose average clutch is said on very good authority to number

MAINLAND WREN.

five eggs, and in whose nest I have myself seen as many as eight at the Fame Islands, never lavs more than four at St. Kilda, according to the natives, one of whom showed me a clutch with that number in it. During the third week in June we did not see a single young Wren in St. Kilda, where such eggs as we had shown to us were quite fresh; but in Soa, which is only separated bv a narrow channel, young birds were Hying about the rocks almost as strongly as their parents. We succeeded in laying hands upon one, the adventurous particulars

of whose capture will be related when I come to deal with our visit to Soa. My brother fixed up his camera and focussed the corner of an advantageously-situated crag, and when he had got his plate in and all ready, I quietly placed the littlebird upon it and kept my hands over the

NEST OF ST. KILDA WREN.

creature until be was conn)ose(l, then counting one, I swiftly withdrew.two, for my brother's signal, Tbe pneumatic tube was instantly })ressed, and the ])hotograph, from which the accompanying picture has been made, was taken. Every Wren's nest we found, or had shown to us, was located inside a cleit; and, as may well be

imagined, a situation over the cloor-lintel of one oi these dark structures did not lend itself readily to picture-making. To get over the difficulty caused by an almost entire absence of light, my brother fixed a looking-glass at such an angle inside the cleit that it reflected the rays of light coming through the little doorway l)ackwards and upwards on to the nest. I then went outside, and with another mirror tln-ew tlic sun's rays upon the looking-glass inside. By this means my brother was able to focus the nest and some of its surroundings. No sooner, however, had this difficulty been got over than another presented itself. The dark slide containing the sensitised plate could not be got in and arranged for exposure on account of the position of the nest and the narrowness of the cleit. This was extremely awkward, but we surmounted it by carefully noting the position of each of the legs of the tripod and then marking the exact position of the camera with a lead pencil on the stones of the side wall against which it was actually leaning. It was then removed, the slide introduced, and shutter drawn out ready to expose the slide, and the whole put back into the register formed l.)' the pencil marks. A long exposure and several inter mittent gleams of sunshine produced the picture here given. We arranged an excursion to Borrera, and as soon as a favourable day occurred, started, after listening without understanding a single word of a prolonged debate amongst the men and the tiresome wrangling of their dogs. As we neared the island the scene became simply magnificent. The air above and around us was thickly peopled with thousands upon thousands of Ganncts of different ages, as could easily be seen from the wonderful

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