AILSA CRAIG 109 



Nurnber of Gannets on Ailsa. — It was June when we were 

 at Ailsa, and on two days of our sojourn the sea was as 

 calm as glass, and every swimming Guillemot and Puffin 

 could be seen as in a mirror. With our minds full of the 

 idea of taking a census of the birds, the notion forcibly 

 suggested itself that in such ideal weather it would be possible 

 to take a series of large photographs of the entire Gannet 

 cliff area from the sea, on a scale which would admit of 

 counting the Gannets with a magnifying glass afterwards. 

 It would be necessary to divide the cliffs into six or eight 

 sections, which perhaps it would be found practicable to 

 indicate by large daubs of red and white paint at their base. 

 I mentioned the plan to a very successful photographic 

 artist, Mr. Charles Kirk, of Glasgow, and I beheve he con- 

 siders it a feasible plan, and may possibly some day find 

 an opportunity to undertake it. Mr. Kirk had already 

 taken some excellent, and very large, views, but these are 

 from the land, and not divided into sections. One of the 

 best of them, taken from a projecting part of the chff, 

 includes a large stretch of the breeding ground, for it shows 

 under a magnifying glass about 855 white specks, which 

 have been counted, and the greater part of which are un- 

 doubtedly Gannets. I think Mr. Kirk would agree that 

 this photograph takes in as much as a sixth part of the 

 whole breeding area. From this we can draw a conclusion. 



