Islay is the most southerly island of the Hebrides lying 24 kilometres from Kintyre on mainland Britain, across the approaches to the Sound of Jura. It has an area of 615 square kilometres. For this book, the author presents a collation of facts about the birds and some ways in which they interact with human aspirations. The main part of this book is based on the ornithological records accumulated by C.Gordon Booth from 1968 to 1985. Accounts of the occurrence of both regular and vagrant birds seen here together with migration, the history of habitats and the problems of conservation in association with the island community are also discussed.