1897.J Knox. — Notes from a Trip to Lambay Island. 275 



water in the quickest possible time. Reaching " Fresh-water 

 Bay " we landed, leaving the 5^awl in charge of our two boat- 

 men. The heather on the island was in full bloom, forming a 

 beautiful contrast to the still j^oung bright green Bracken — 

 the happ3^ hunting, if not fighting-ground of Rabbit and Pui^n. 

 We made straight for the " Seals' Cave," the cliffs round 

 which are the headquarters of the gull family of Lamba3^ 

 Arriving there, we were greeted by an almost babel of cries — 

 the yelping of some old Herring Gull, as he sedately sat with 

 head thrown back to the sk}^ on some rocky pinnacle, the 

 Kittiwake almost calling his own name, the constant whirr of 

 Pufl&ns' wings as they crossed to their nests. 



It was chiefly for Puffins that I came to Lambay, so we sat 

 down to watch these birds as they came in from the sea, with 

 fry held transverse in their parrot bills. As most of my 

 readers are aware, these birds build their nests in rabbit-holes, 

 often at a great distance from the inlet. Many are the fierce 

 conflicts that take place between the usurpers and the lawful 

 owners. The Puffins were rather wary about settling near the 

 burrow of their choice and, until we hid in the Bracken, we 

 could not mark any. Presently we saw a bird alight with food 

 in its bill, and after standing some time on the bank outside, 

 it popped into a hole ; running up as fast as we could, we saw 

 him coming out and flying away before we got there; putting 

 my arm into the hole he had just quitted, I could touch 

 nothing even with a stick, and thought we should have to dig 

 the young one out, which might have been very heavy work 

 should there be any anastomoses of the burrow. 



The duration of the visit of the Puffin being so short it 

 struck me, after watching some more birds visit their nests, 

 that they really had not time to travel any distance in 

 the hole and come out in the short time they did, and that 

 the young bird either sat near the mouth of the hole or came 

 out to meet its parent as it came in. Marking another arrival 

 I hurried with as little noise as possible, and after the old 

 bird came out I ran my arm quickly into the burrow and had 

 the pleasure of capturing a youngster as he hurried away 

 into the passage. 



After this we got as many young Puffins as we wanted, only 

 keeping the strong and more mature birds. I found that 



