THE BIRDS OF THE FLANNAN ISLANDS 85 



PUFFIN (Fratercula arcticd), The commonest summer visitor to 

 Eilean Mhor and probably to the other islands of the group. 

 On the top main island there are colonies of thousands in 

 those parts where the turf is suitable for the formation of their 

 burrows, and in addition vast numbers resort to the holes and 

 crevices on the face of the cliffs. 



The great breeding crowd had left ere we arrived, and the 

 very few that remained were detained by their unfledged young, 

 some of which were still half-clad in down. The industry 

 of this comical bird is marvellous. We sometimes sat near 

 their burrows, and the constancy with which the old birds 

 arrived with strings of fish hanging from their bills, was quite 

 remarkable ; they seemed to be coming in every few minutes, 

 and the young must surely be very voracious little creatures. 



SCLAVONIAN GREBE (Poditipes auritus}. We observed a bird of the 

 year on the i6th of September, off the east landing place. A 

 strong southerly breeze prevailed at the time and the bird 

 found there a convenient harbour, and passed the entire day in 

 diving and sleeping. It often came quite close to the face of 

 the rocks from which we were watching it. 



STORM PETREL (Procellaria pelagica\ Very numerous during the 

 summer, when they fly noisily about the island during the 

 night-time. They breed on Eilean Mhor, and probably on 

 the other islands, in abundance. Many chicks, some of them 

 quite recently hatched, were found during our visit in 

 September, and we saw young ones in every stage from a few 

 hours old (tiny balls of pretty lavender grey down) to birds 

 full-grown and fully feathered, except that they had a bunch of 

 down still present on the lower part of the abdomen. The old 

 birds were entirely absent during the daytime, leaving even the 

 small chicks to take care of themselves, and do not return 

 until darkness sets in, when they tend to their young and 

 depart again in the early morning, probably to spend the day 

 far out at sea in search of food. We opened out a number of 

 their nesting holes at all hours of the day, but the old birds 

 were always absent, except in one instance where the young 

 had only recently emerged from the egg. Occasionally they 

 visited the lantern. They nest in the remains of the old 

 buildings, in holes in turf, and under stones among grass. 

 The nest is a mere mat composed of dry roots, grass, etc. I 

 received a young one in full down which had been taken on 

 the 3rd of October ; probably the first egg of this pair had 

 been taken or destroyed. 



LEACH'S FORK-TAILED PETREL (Oceanodroma leitcorrhoa). The 

 Flannan Isles may be regarded as one of the chief breeding 

 stations of this species in the British Isles and will probably 



