130 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



keep each their own legitimate level; but where the rocks are rent 

 and cracked, where Landslips have occurred, and there are mounds 

 of earth and stones, such regularity is not so observable. 



Order viii. , A N SERES. Fam. iv. , P ROC ELLA EIIDA E. 



Obs. I have not been able to discover any breeding place of 

 either the Manx Shear-water, Puffinus anglorum (Temminck), 

 or the Fulmar Petrel, ProceUaria ])elagica (Linnaeus), but would 

 suggest that, as the former breeds in Orkney, it may be found 

 also on the north coast of Sutherland, and that the latter, if 

 searched for in July, may be found in at least one locality on the 

 west coast. 



Order viii., AN SERES. Fam. v., LARIDAE. 



Obs. Eichardson's Skua, Lesfris imrasiticus (Linnaeus). — Mr 

 A. G. More says ("Ibis," 1865, p. 456): "The bird still 

 breeds in Sutherland and Caithness," but he gives no authority. 

 I can hear from no other source of their nesting in the county, nor 

 have I received eggs from any locality there. In June I have 

 received a specimen of the bird, in the flesh, from Handa, where 

 it is considered rare, and is not known to breed. It is seen much 

 more numerously on the east coast of Caithness and Sutherland 

 than elsewhere, these birds being probably those which breed on 

 an inland moor in the former county, and in Hoy, and which 

 follow the flights of other Gulls preying on the passing shoals of 

 fish. 



GEEAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. 



LARUS MARIN US, Linnaeus. 



The only place on the west coast, that I have visited, where this 

 fine bird breeds in any numbers, is at Handa, where a colony of 

 about fifteen pairs have their breeding station, which is perfectly 

 inaccessible to man, on the grassy summit of "The Stack." 

 Apparently knowing the security of their nesting place, they allow 

 a close approach to the opposite edge of the chasm which separates 

 them from the main island, without showing any symptoms of 

 alarm. 



Scattered pairs breed up and down the coast, generally returning 

 to the same locality year after year. A few pairs breed also in 



