AILSA CRAIG 105 



Remains of Dead Gannets. — At low tide it is comparatively 

 easy to walk round the Craig by dint of scrambling over 

 large and small syenite boulders, among which it is sad to 

 see the rotting carcases of defunct sea-birds, chiefly Gannets, 

 from whatever cause they lie there. I counted the withered 

 remains of seventy-three dead Gannets below the westCraigs, 

 where the largest number breed, among which were a few 

 second-year birds, but no young ones of the first year. 

 Some of these unfortunates may have died a natural death, 

 or been injured by falls when fighting, but Mr. Thomson 

 says a good many are wantonly shot from yachts in 

 summer, and some of them float ashore on the Craig, or, 

 if wounded, have perhaps strength to reach a ledge and 

 die there. Indeed, both here and at the Bass Rock I 

 could see dead Gannets on the ledges with my glasses. 

 It seems very regrettable that those who are at sea, 

 whether they be yachtsmen or fishermen, should fire so 

 much at these birds, which is often done for heedless 

 sport, and not because a specimen is wanted for stuffing. 

 The law, it must be remembered, is infringed, and perhaps 

 several Gannets may be wounded for the chance of getting 

 one, and when they are killed, Mr. Thomson says they are not 

 always gathered, showing how little the so-called sports- 

 man cares about them. Mr. C. W. Devis states how in 

 March, 1865, the market at Manchester was inundated 



