FURTHEST WEST AND FURTHEST SOUTH 57 hedges from the ever sweeping western winds ; if a little later in the nesting time of gull and guille- mot, razor-bill, puffin and cormorant, say the first week in June, then the sights of bird-life will well repay them. They may even find the nesting- places of the tern, shearwater, or such voracious pirates as the kestrel and peregrine, or the stormy petrel ; but this will be in the outlying islets, as the greater traffic and population of late years has driven many of the shy birds away. The halcyon days when sea and sky are one soft blue dome arid the water washes and laps around the rocky shores give a glimpse of peace and remoteness such as one might imagine form part of heaven. The masses of cloud piled up in towering grandeur, the vast horizons and even the beat of the sudden squalls will find response in some people. But there are few save islanders born and bred who can revel in the lash and st'-uggle and constant menace of the black winter days. Surrounded by water on all sides the tempera- ture is kept equable, hence it is that narcissus, violets, anemones, daffodils and other of the earliest spring flowers can be grown in the open and sent to be delivered in London weeks before the home counties can produce them. 8
