ON THE AVIFAUNA OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES 19 



many letters I have from my old friend I can find no reference to 

 the fact. 



It is, however, undoubted that the Fulmar has increased greatly 

 in numbers in St. Kilda, and has spread out to other localities. Mr. 

 Mackenzie tells me : " My observations lead me to the conclusion 

 that the numbers of nesting birds round the whole group are con- 

 siderably on the increase, and so also are the Gannets ; and the 

 Puffins simply swarm and overrun the place, especially on Soay and 

 Borreray." 



We now have it reported as occurring in the Flannan Isles, by 

 Mr. Herbert Langton, who found two eggs. 



MANX SHEARWATER (Puffiniis angloruni), p. 155. I have now 

 to somewhat modify the remarks made regarding the appearances 

 of this species west of the Outer Hebrides. Whereas in our vol. 

 we spoke of them as being seen west of The Lews, etc., " always 

 single birds, or at most in pairs," Mr. Henry Evans whose know- 

 ledge of the St. Kilda group of islands is facile princeps^ writes me 

 that on one occasion, when in his yacht in the neighbourhood of 

 St. Kilda, he witnessed at least 1500 "sunning themselves on the 

 calm sea" (/;/ ///. August 25, 1899). 



Of the vast numbers to be seen around the oceanic rock some 

 157 miles west of St. Kilda, named Rockall, see the Report to the 

 Royal Irish Academy. 



There is excellent evidence afforded us of at least one additional 

 colony in the Outer Hebrides, besides those previously mentioned. 

 It is not the first lime we heard of it ; but, for those " obvious 

 reasons," and from the small number of the birds breeding there- 

 some twenty pairs only I prefer to retain the details concerning 

 this colony. 



RAZORBILL (Alca torda\ p. 157. A pied example has been 

 recorded from St. Kilda by the late Rev. H. A. Macpherson (" Scot- 

 tish Naturalist," 1887-88, p. 238, and "Zoologist," May 1887). 



PUFFIN (Fratercula arctica), p. 165. A pied example has been 

 recorded from St. Kilda by the late Rev. H. A. Macpherson in the 

 "Zoologist," May 1887. I may mention that pied or albino or 

 brown-plumaged Puffins and Razorbills and Guillemots are not 

 commonly met with. Perhaps more of these varieties are obtained 

 in the Faroe Isles than elsewhere. 



Puffins travelled south in countless numbers, and this was wit- 

 nessed at Eilean Ghlais during three days from August i, 1894, 

 from 8 P.M. on ist ("Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist." 1894, p. 224). 



GREAT SHEARWATER (Puffinus gravis), p. 156. Since our short 

 paragraph on this bird, which appeared in the " Fauna of the Outer 

 Hebrides," much knowledge has accrued of its distribution within the 



