176 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



On my return from St Kilda on 26th May, I visited 

 Barra, an island that I know best under the influence of 

 November gales. Seen at this time of the year, in brilliant 

 sunshine and clothed with a carpet of Thrift, Primroses, and 

 Marsh Marigolds, it and the adjacent islands are hardly 

 recognisable. Most of the Waders had left, but I saw a 

 flock of twenty to thirty Bar-tailed Godwits. There were 

 also a number of Great Northern Divers in many stages of 

 plumage, and both Arctic and Common Terns were nesting 

 there. Numbers of Gannets fished in the Sound every 

 afternoon, and, as I have seen it stated {The Gannet, Gurney, 

 p. 400) that they are unable to catch fish in a perfectly calm 

 sea, it may be of interest to mention that I have frequently 

 seen them fishing here, as also off the Mull of Cantyre, when 

 there was not a ripple on the water. 



On the i6thjune a great number of Manx Shearwaters 

 were observed off the Isles of the Sea, and again on the 17th 

 between the Sound of Sleat and Eigg, some being seen as 

 far north as Gairloch. Two Great Northern Divers were 

 also noticed. 



On the 19th June I visited the Stack of "Stack and 

 Skerry." The island lies about 27 miles north of the north 

 coast of Sutherlandshire, and 4^ miles from Sule Skerry. It 

 is one of the principal breeding resorts of the Gannet. The 

 Stack is divided into two almost equal portions, the sea 

 running through a narrow cleft between the two islands. 

 There was too much swell for landing at the time of my 

 visit, though, but for this cleft, I think I might have managed 

 it on the south-east side. 



As the estimate of the number of Gannets breeding there 

 in the past varies from 8000 (Gurney) to 50,000 (Seebohm), 

 I made very careful observations on this point. We steamed 

 round the Stack on one side at a distance not exceeding 150 

 yards. On the other my captain treated it with greater 

 respect and we were rather farther off, but I afterwards 

 rowed round in my dinghy within a few yards of the islands. 

 I counted the birds before many of them rose on a portion 

 of the rock which was most thickly occupied, and my opinion 

 is that there were about 5000 at the time of my visit. If 



