24 Capt. Elwes on the Bird-Stations 



think, however, that if it had done so, it would have been men- 

 tioned by Martin or Sir George Mackenzie, of Tarbat, who gave 

 an account of Rona and Hirta to Sir E. Sibbald, and was, as 

 well as Martin, acquainted with the Great Auk, 



Donald Monro, High Dean of the Isles, who wrote a ' De- 

 scription of the Hybrides ' in 1594, gives an account of Sule- 

 skeir, in which is the earliest mention of the Eider-Duck in 

 Great Britain that I know of. He says, " Be sexteen myle of 

 the sea to this ile [Ronay], towards the west, lyes ane ile callit 

 Suilskeray, ane myle lang, without grasse or hedder, with highe 

 blacke craigs, and blacke fouge thereupon part of them. This 

 ile is full of wylde foulis, and quhen foulis hes ther birdes, men 

 out of the parochin of Nesse in Lewis use to sail ther, and to stay 

 ther seven or aught dayes, and to fetch hame with them ther 

 boitt full of dray wyld foulis, with wyld foulis fedders. In this 

 ile ther haunts ane kind of foule callit the colk'^, little lesse nor 

 a guise, quha comes in the ver to the land to lay hir eggis, and 

 to clecke hir birdes quhill she bringe them to perfytness, and at 

 that time hir fleiche of fedderis falleth of her all hailly, and she 

 sayles to the mayne sea again, and comes never to laud quhill 

 the zier end againe, and then she comes with hir new fleiche of 

 fedderis. This fleiche that she leaves zierly upon hir nest hes 

 nae pens in the fedderis, nor nae kind of hard thinge in them 

 that may be felt or graipit, hot utter fyne downes.^^f 



This rock is still visited annually by a boat from Ness, which 

 goes in September, for the sake of the down and feathers of the 

 young Gannets, at that time nearly ready to fly. Several thou- 

 sands are usually killed, and are considered very good eating, 

 as they are extremely fat and as large as the old ones. 



The Shiant Isles are a small group lying in the Minch, about 

 six miles from the coast of Lewis. They are frequented in 

 summer by immense numbers of sea-birds, especially Puffins 

 {Fratercula arctica) and Kittiwakes [Rissa tridactijla), with 

 which two species the sea was covered for more than a mile 

 when I passed the islands in the beginning of July. There is 



* " Colk" is tlie Gaelic name now used in Lewis and Harris for the 

 Eider. 



t 'Miscellanea Scotica.' Glasgow: 1818, vol. ii. p. 153, 12mo. 



