The report of my fowling-piece set every dog in the village barking madly, and sent a crowd of Lesser Black-l)acks and Herring- Gulls away from their morning meal at the midden heaps to protest loudly against me for the fright I had given them, as they circled higher and higher in the air over my head. After I had picked up my trophy and prepared him for the skinning-knife, I re-entered my place of hiding; but to small purpose, as ihe old maid's cats living next door to us scented my offal, and by their assiduous attentions made it impossible for me to get another shot. The greatest sight of all, from an ornithological

point of view, at '^t. Kilcla is the prodigious flock of Puffins on Soa. Wc determined to go thither the first time a favourable spell of weather gave us an opportunity. The morning of June 22nd was ; anddeemed suitable by all the weather-wise old men after a wearisomely protracted debate upon various matters affecting the Commonwealth, we started.

When we reached that part of the coast lying-behind the village, we saw a lot of Shags and other birds upon a promontory of rock that looked approachable with the boat. It was decided to land, and after a deal of manoeuvring bows on as usual, we succeeded in getting ashore by the aid of ropes. Once or twice, as I sat in the vessel's prow with a leg dangling over each side ready to leap ashore, I missed my chance, and her keel came bump, bump down the steep rock as she was sucked back upon the receding waters of a wave.

We clambered about amongst a number of huge detached boulders in search of something to photograph, but found nothing of any value until my brother, who had ascended by a tortuous climb from ledge to ledge away to the left of us, discovered a Shag's nest, containing three down-clad young ones, in an open nook some thirty or forty feet immediately above us. In order to examine the birds and assist in the taking of their i)ortraits I began to climl) straight up amongst the gr(nit loose crags which at one j^lace almost defied my l)est efforts on account of their wall-like steepness. However, I selected a fairly wide crevice, formed l)y two immense rocks liaving falh'n into somewhat simihir positions, and placing a hand and foot on either side, litei-ally worked my way u})wards until I came to a large stone which a})})eared to be lirndy wedged in between the two forming the crevice. 1 managed

YOUNG SHAGS.

to negotiate it successfully, and presently joined my brother and the yoimg* Shag-s, which were trembling and shaking in a most distressing state of fear. After a great deal of trouble, and the enduring of a vastly un})leasant smell arising from the filthy condition of the nest and rocks round about, which were plastered with excreta, we succeeded in making what we hoped would turn out to be a fairly decent picture. I do not know whether it has ever been noticed or recorded before, but according to my experience the nests of Shags are far less frequently surrounded by fish in all stages of decay than are those of Cormorants.

As soon as we had done with the long-necked, shivering creatures, each of us prepared to descend by his own chosen path. My brother got down first, and just as he was travelling along a ledge directly beneath the lump of rock I have just mentioned as being jammed betwixt the two uj^right crags, we had the narrowest escape from a terrible accident I have ever witnessed. No sooner had I placed my right foot on the stone, which I had every reason to believe was as firndy locked in its position as the keystone of an arch, than it twirled over and sli2)ped out, and I suffered the extreme horror of seeing it descend straight upon my brother. By a stroke of wonderful good luck he saw it start, and nudving a dexterous bound just numaged to clear its path by a hairsbreadth. It struck the ledge of rock with a (hdl crash, pul-verised a portion of itself into a sulphureous snu'll-ing little cloud of powder, and tlunuh'iing onwards down the steep slo})e of the clijl", linally l)ouiuhMl into the sea with a cliuniing spltisli. 1 should undoubtedly have follcnved it had 1 not had my hands hard pressed against the boulder on either

side. Tliu danger I had uiiconseiuusly undergone in ascending the crevice was not ]3leasant to reflect u})on, and the incident made me feel distinctly uncomfortable for a ^yhile.

We saw a great number of Razorbills' eggs Iving about under l^oulders and ledges, and here and there came across a newlv-hatched young one,

YOUNG RAZORBILL.

which was making its worldly wants known by vigorous chirping. The one figuring in our illustration was photographed at this place; and its comical, over-sized looking feet will, no doubt, suggest to anyone unacquainted with the peculiar development of the lower extremities of the young of this species a freak of the camera, not uncommon, I believe, when dealing with feet.

By working his way carefully along a narrow ledge which jutted out over the sea some two

liiindred feet below, my brother was enabled to stalk a number of Guillemots and Eazorlnlls, and make the 23icture opposite.

At this ])laco I noticed several Guillemots' eggs just showing from pools of rain-water, formed by the peculiar upward slope of the outer edge of the rock beds. In two or three cases a warm egg was lying on a dry fiat ledge an inch or two above the inmiersed one, and so similar were the two in ground colour and markings that I was at once reminded of the assertion of cragsmen in various parts of the country that although this species lays eggs varying very widely in coloration, an individual Guillemot invariably produces a similar type of egg from year to year. I do not think that there could be any doubt but that the eggs in the water had originally been laid on the ledge where the warm eggs were resting, and that they had accidentally rolled away and been lost to their owners for hatching purposes. The St. Kildans whom I consulted upon the matter were of the same opinion, and corroborated the statements of other cragsmen in regard to an individual bird always laying a similar type of egg.

After the usual difficulties of re- embarkation had been successfully surmounted Ave steered for Soa, which we found to be the most awkward island to effect a landing upon which we had yet encountered. Martin in writing of it says:—" It is dangerous to ascend; the landing is also very liazardous both in regard of the raging sea on the rock that nnist l)e climbed." He contented himself by watching both done, a fact which, I am inclined to think, only lessened his appreciation of the difficulties.

AVc got ashore, after a great deal of scrandjling and excitement, at a place where the rocks sloped

GUILLEMOTS ON CLIFF.

at a much more acute angle than the roof of most houses, and were in addition covered hy a crop of extremely slippery sea-weed. From this point we were all tied together, Alpine fashion, and began to ascend the almost perpendicular cliff by the aid of crannies and ledges, which were in many places not more than an inch in depth, and barely afforded a sufficient resting-place for our toes or finger-tips. On arriving at a place where the precipice was broken up into huge boulders and shelves which admitted of easier and safer progress, the men began to give ns an exhibition of their skill with the fowling-rod amongst the Guillemots and Razorbills. Some of their captures were so clever that it appeared as if they exercised some kind of destructive charm over the poor birds. My brother commenced to busy himself aiter getting a photograph of a Fulmar Petrel sitting on her i^gg, and selecting a bird in a particularly picturesque situation commenced to stalk her very carefully. At last he came to a place where, by dint of perseverance and the exercise of considerable ingenuity, he was enabled to fix the legs of his camera into the interstices of the rocks in such a position as to enable him to focus the bird at close range. She was very uneasy at first, but by working ver}^ deftly he allayed her fears, and she sat an absolute picture against the bold mass of overhanging broken crags. My brother was in a perfect ecstasy of delight when ])utting in his slide, but, alas! just as he was in the very a(;t of exposing the plate, a dog, belonging to one of the men, p()j)pc(l its great ugly lu'ad round a corner close to the Fuhnar, and she instantly s])rang into the air and was gone. That cur had good I'oason to thank its liick' stars that it got off the isle of

Soa ao-ain alive. If the forcible Englisli with Avhieh its intrusion was greeted in stentorian tones could have been translated into Gaelic for its edification I am persuaded it would have entertained but an ill-opinion of itself.

When Ave reached a point some iive or six hundred feet up, our boat, which we could see tossing on the waves below, looked like a little chip. Nothing was visible of her except her gunwale and seats, upon which were three small figures—our friend Mr. Young, and a man and a boy who had been left in charge. I got Finlay Gillies to lay a Puffin snare on a rock which jutted out seawards, and was considered the favourite spot on all the St. Kilda group of islands for the sjiort. Before he laid the engine of destruction down, the crag had been covered with birds; l^ut the sight of the bit of rope, weighted at either end with a stone and crowded with horse-hair nooses in the middle, made them fight shy of it for a while as they flew past in perfect clouds.

By-and-by one individual, bolder than the rest, alighted on the rock, and with an air of foolish curiosity commenced to step along sideways towards where the snare was set. He j)ulled several of the nooses about with his beak, and after examining them for awhile grew bolder. Poor bird! his inquisitiveness cost him something; for in the course of his investigations one of his feet slipped through a noose, and when he came to lift his leg he discovered that he was a prisoner. He contested his captivity with great spirit and vigour, to the fright of all the other members of his species that kept on flying close past in a continuous and exliaustless stream, until he became either weary of the struggle or convinced of its uselessness, and rolled over u])on

his side. Whilst the captive remained quite still several birds alighted beside him, but directly he stirred they all promptly decamped. They were soon back again, however, and fell to poking about and examining the snare, at which pastime they were solemnly engaged until their relative in bondage had regained his breath and began to beat his Avings violently. At this they started u]) to tiy away, but one of them suddenly discovered that he was unable to do so. He had become inextricably entangled, and without the slightest ado set about his fellow-prisoner, evidently thinking that he was the author of all the mischief.

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