LUNDY ISLAND 49 



young Gannet had been reared on Gannet Rock for seven 

 years, such was the constant and inconsiderate persecution 

 to which they were already being subjected. In 1893 

 there were about thirty pairs of old birds, as Mr. F. L. 

 Blathwayt was informed when there on a subsequent 

 visit,* and these, being incessantly disturbed and their eggs 

 taken, had tried to establish themselves on Lundy itself, 

 as more likely to afford them a home. In 1896 there was 

 a gleam of hope for the unfortunate Gannets, the eggs of 

 all wild birds breeding upon Lundy Island receiving pro- 

 tection by order of the County Council, and in 1897 a further 

 order included the Gannets themselves. But these attempts 

 at legislation were too nominal to prove effectual in the 

 case of the Gannets, whatever they may have done for the 

 Puffins and Guillemots, there being no one appointed to 

 see that the law was carried out, which, as was to be 

 expected, became a dead letter. In 1900 Mr. Blathwayt, 

 visiting Lundy, found only three pairs of Gannets which 

 had forsaken Gannet Rock, and were breeding three- 

 quarters of a mile away at the extreme north-east end 

 of the island near the lighthouse, t but it is believed no 

 young were reared. In 1901 the principal of the light- 

 house reported seven pairs, but whether they all had eggs 

 I was not told ; if they had probably they were robbed. 

 * " Zoologist," 1900, p. 375. f /. c, p. 376. 



