56 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



quarters; and that next morning (7th April 1864) two Black 

 Guillemots the only examples seen one " speckled," the 

 other "jet black," were secured. With the exception of a 

 group of eiders, no other birds are mentioned. I may say 

 that in May 1887 I was shown the case containing these two 

 Black Guillemots at Colquhoun's house in Edinburgh. It is 

 possible they were a pair that had settled down at the May 

 for the ensuing breeding season ; but, on the other hand, 

 they may merely have been winter visitors waiting for the 

 call to proceed northwards. When this species really ceased 

 to breed on the May will probably always be a matter of 

 doubt. It is on record that a single bird was seen about the 

 island in June 1880. 1 As a winter visitor there, in small 

 numbers, it is well known ; in the beginning of February 

 (1st to 3rd) 191 2 I watched a party of six fishing at the base 

 of the cliffs. 



In the 1867 edition of Turnbull's Birds of East Lothian, 

 the Bass Rock and Isle of May are given as localities for the 

 Rock Dove ; any such pigeons, however, frequenting these 

 places in recent times would have a large admixture of 

 "doo-cot" blood in their veins. The May is also given 

 as a habitat of the " bridled " variety of the Common 

 Guillemot, and there, too, the Black Guillemot, the Roseate 

 Tern, and the Arctic Tern are all stated to breed ; but 

 it may be suspected that we have here to do not with 

 first-hand information, but a mere echo of records quoted 

 above. 



From a note by R. Walker, in the Scottish Naturalist, 

 vol. i., 1872, p. 79, we learn that a pair of Peregrine Falcons 

 " had a nest on the Isle of May, in 1869." 



E. T. Booth, whose collection of British Birds is one of 

 the attractions of Brighton, resided for a few years in the 

 sixties at Ferrygate, near North Berwick, and revisited the 

 locality on a shooting expedition during the autumn of 1874. 

 In the annotated Catalogue of his collection there is no 

 mention of the May ; but in his Rough Notes, published in 

 parts during the eighties, I find the following statements 



1 Report on Hie Migration oj Birds in 1880, p. 6. 



