229 



an ®rnitholoGi6t'6 Summer Iboli^av. 



By H. GooDCHitD, M.B.O.U. 



'^ ^/j i 'T a time when London is rendered most un- 



IhJ comfortable through heat, I was fortunate in 



I"— i, being able to leave it for a few weeks, and to 



^ spend the time in the South of Scotland and 



the North of England. 



My first halting place was Edinburgh, and from 

 thence I went round the far famed Bass Rock, which 

 at all times is a place of interest to a lover of bird 

 life. 



The first birds we saw as we left Portobello, where 

 I joined the steamer, were of course Gulls, but as one 

 got within sight of the rock, Gannets, with their 

 striking contrast of black and white plumage were 

 seen, but, unlike the Gulls, passed without taking any 

 notice of us. As we neared North Berwick, flocks of 

 Puffins, distinguished on the wing by their light 

 cheeks, passed in rapid Starling-like flight, or else rose 

 from the water when we were close enough to recognise 

 them. Guillemots or Razorbills, less numerous than 

 the Puffins, were seen, but dived as the boat approached 

 them. When we got near the Rock the engines were 

 stopped, and the hideous noise of the steam whistle 

 turned on to induce the birds to leave their ledges and 

 take wing. I heard that when first this practice was 

 employed to move the birds, many eggs were knocked 

 off tlie rock into the sea by the affrighted birds, but I 

 was relieved to see that they did not now take much 

 notice of the infernal hooting. Gannets were in 

 evidence more than anything else, but I could not dis- 

 tinguish any young on the rock or any immature 

 birds amongst those on the wing. At the present time 

 the rock is disfigured by a lighthouse, which is placed 

 close by the ledge on which a pair of Peregrines 

 formerly bred. I afterwards met an ornithologist in 



