HISTORICAL PREFACE xliii. 



already told in chapter III., but it goes no further back than 



1830. At this time there were still sixteen nests (p. 48), 



but things soon went from bad to worse, and 1882 is supposed 



to have been the last summer in which any were bred. 



In August, 1887, Mr. Howard Saunders, who was staying 



on the Island, was still able to write : " Lundy is much 



as it was ; more Gannets but their eggs are all taken, and 



not one hatched, this cannot be helped as they nest in 



such an accessible place from the water as well as the 



land . . . " {in litt.). 1903 seems to have been the 



last year in which any eggs were laid. Although we have 



lost the Gannets from Lundy Island, everyone will be 



glad to know that the parchment Inquisitions, which shed 



such an interesting light on their early history, are safe, 



and both of them in excellent preservation. By the 



courtesy of the ofhcials at the Record Office, Mr. 



H. F. Witherby has secured an admirable photograph 



of the earlier of the two, reproduced to face page 48. 



It was hoped that something similar might turn up 

 about the Gannets on the Bass Rock, but Mr. John 

 Anderson, who has very kindly made search among the 

 writs and bulls in the General Register House at Edinburgh, 

 has failed in discovering anything relating to the Bass 

 earlier than 1493, so its Gannetry cannot compete with 

 Lundy, although it may be older in reaUty. 



Other correspondents who have been good enough to 

 take an interest in the Gannet book, and to assist, are the 

 distinguished Scottish naturahsts, Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, of 

 the Royal Scottish Museum, Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown, 

 LL.D., and Mr. John Paterson of Glasgow, who have at 



