Perhaps as remarkable a feature of this strange place as anything else to be seen is the vast concourse of sea-birds inhabiting the rocks—shags, penguins, guillemots, cormorants, sea-gulls, puffins, razor-bills, and even peregrine falcons, screaming and chattering loud enough to drown even the sound of the waves. The lighthouse-keepers and other observers tell how the gulls all migrate to other and warmer climes on or about every 12th of August, returning in a body about February 10th. The keepers state that in midst of the February night they are advised of the birds’ arrival by a great noise, as though it were a mutual greeting and cheering. These feathered inhabitants of the South Stack are under the protection of the Government, and are as useful to the Trinity House as any of the lighthouses, buoys, beacons, or fog-horns on the coast; their incredible numbers and deafening noise warning mariners just as effectually as any mechanical devices. As no sportsmen (so-called) are allowed to disturb the birds, they are wonderfully tame, and present an odd sight, row upon row of them perched upon the ledges like some vast and patient audience. The cliffs for long distances are populous with them, and one particularly noisy and turbulent place near the North Stack has acquired the name of the “Parliament House.” [Illustration: HOLYHEAD MOUNTAIN.] Here, then, where the sea-birds scream and fly, on the rocky ramparts of this wild land, overlooking that broad belt of water known by choice either as St. George’s Channel or the Irish Sea, shall the Holyhead Road most fittingly end. From this outlook one may watch the great liners coming by, bound for America, or within an hour of ending their voyage at Liverpool, and may see the packets set forth or come in from Ireland. Whether Ireland itself, or that other Mona, known better by its modern name of the Isle of Man, can be seen, lying afar off, like cloudbanks upon the horizon, is a matter for the most favourable weather, the keenest eyesight, and the most robust faith to decide in the affirmative, or for scepticism to deny. INDEX Allesley, i. 301 Anglesey, Isle of, i. 20; ii. 288, 292–295, 320 —— Marquis of, i. 165; ii. 295–297, 313 Ashby St. Ledgers, i. 241–243, 251 Atcham, ii. 89–91 Atherstone, i. 210–217 Baddesley Ensor, i. 217 Bangor, i. 20, 22, 219; ii. 112, 265, 273 Barnet, i. 27, 34, 38, 65, 66–79, 96 —— Fair, i. 69–72 Battlesden, i. 156, 162 _Beneventa_, i. 232 Berwyn, ii. 209 Bethesda, ii. 260–262 Bettws-y-Coed, ii. 87, 112, 218, 232–245 Bickenhill, i. 307–311 Bicton, ii. 145 Bilston, ii. 36–38 Birmingham, i. 4, 10, 11, 15, 24, 27, 188, 277, 307, 312–314; ii. 1–27, 109 Bodedern, ii. 320 Bodffordd, ii. 320 Boningale, ii. 64 Bordesley, i. 313 Boscobel, i. 225–227 Braint, ii. 318 Braunston, i. 182, 240 —— Hill, i. 239 Breidden Hills, ii. 88, 145–147, 151 Bridgetown, i. 221