THE FULMAR 129 



whalers that use St Kilda Bay as a harbour of refuge, etc. 

 The visits of the Dunara Castle date back to the year 

 1877. I n I %79> when Harvie-Brown first visited St Kilda, 

 and for years thereafter, a few Fulmars used to follow the 

 Dunara Castle close up to the west entrance of the Sound 

 of Harris till within view of the Island of Pabbay, when 

 the birds seemed to shy the land, and sheered off and re- 

 traced their flight towards St Kilda. 



Barra Head, South Isles of Barra. — With reference 

 to the remarks in our Supplement to the " Fauna of the Outer 

 Hebrides" (Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1903, p. 18) concerning R. 

 Gray's statement that the Fulmar " formerly bred in the south 

 isles of Barra, but has now entirely abandoned that locality, 

 none having been seen there in the breeding season since 

 1844" {Birds of IV. Scotland, 1871), we are now cognisant of 

 what was doubtless his authority for the first part of the 

 statement, viz., the old record of G. C. Atkinson, who was 

 "informed" that a few bred on these islands {Trans. Nat. 

 Hist. Soc, Northumberland, etc., 1832, p. 222). 1 J. Wolley's 

 suggestion, in his paper on the Birds of the Faroe Islands 

 {Contributions to Ornithology, 1850, p. 115), that perhaps 

 11 Bara and Rona, two rocks far to the north of Cape 

 Wrath and the Lewes," were meant, does not seem to help 

 matters. 2 As regards the authority for the latter part of 

 Gray's statement, we are still in ignorance. On a review of 

 the evidence, we see no reason to alter our opinion that the 

 whole statement is open to doubt, and should be placed in 

 square brackets. 



Be the above as it may, there is now a colony of Fulmars 

 established at Barra Head. The first pair was seen by the 

 lighthouse-keeper in 1899, but it was not till 1902 that he 

 actually saw eggs, though nesting may have taken place 

 before that year without his knowing. There were from 

 eight to twelve pairs breeding in 1906 (N. B. Kinnear, Ann. 

 Scot. Nat. Hist., 1907, p. 85). 



1 Cf. also the first editions of Hewitson and Yarrell. 



2 In justice, however, to Wolley, reference should be made to Prof. 

 Newton's remarks when reprinting" Wolley's account in the Ootheca 

 Wolleyana. 



6 R 



