ST. KILDA 139 



J. T. Mackenzie, who in seeking for a reason for the smallness 

 of the number gathered, adds : " This does not arise from the 

 birds becoming scarce — on the contrary they are very much 

 on the increase — but owing to fall in the price of bird oil, 

 brought about principally by the change from smearing 

 sheep to the modern way of dipping with chemical dips." 

 Dr. Wiglesworth, describing the process of obtaining the oil 

 at a time when it was still in request, says : " [The 

 gannets] were skinned, and the skin, with the adhering 

 fat, was boiled, the oil rising to the surface and being 

 skimmed off ; the fat inside the body of the bird was 

 melted down by itself without boiling. The men used to 

 get one shilling a pint for the oil, but now they can only get 

 4|d. offered for it,"* and at present they cannot get even 

 that. There was a time when bird oil was in great demand, 

 for in 1875 Mr. J. Sands says the export was nearly 

 six hundred gallons, f but of course only a portion of it 

 was derived from Gannets. 



Number of Gannets at St. Kilda. — The late Mr. Henry 

 Evans, who, from often yachting round the St. Kilda 

 islands in summer, knew them well, used to say that 

 as many Gannets as frequented the Bass Rock or Ailsa 



* t.c, p. 50. A St. Kilda " pint " is equal to fixe English i)ints. 

 t " Out of the World, or Life in St. Kilda." 



