146 THE GANNET 



nests on Stack Lii may perhaps be put at 3,500 to 4,000. 

 On Stack an Armin, though the birds are very numerous, 

 they are appreciably less so than on Stack Lii, and the 

 number of nests may perhaps be put at about 3,000. On 

 the cliffs of Boreray the natives consider that there are more 

 nests than on the two Stacks put together, and the number 

 may therefore be approximately reckoned at about 8,000, 

 Doubling the number of nests to get the number of birds, 

 and allowing for a fair sprinkling of non-breeding birds, of 

 which the natives say there are a good many, we get a 

 total of some 30,000 birds. This estimate is much less 

 than that given by some writers, and it of course does 

 not pretend to be more than a rough calculation. It 

 probably errs on the side of deficiency, but at the same 

 time it has to be borne in mind that 1,000 birds of the 

 size of a Gannet make a big show, and a mere cursory 

 view of their numbers would probably lead to an over 

 estimation." 



The above is what is offered to us by Dr. Wigles worth 

 as the result of his observations, and we are not likely to 

 come by a better estimate. Moreover, Dr. Wiglesworth's 

 figures are nearly sufficient to justify Martin's figures. Yet 

 Martin's figures, and Macaulay's also, do in fact necessitate 

 a considerably higher Gannet population than the 30,000 

 suggested by Dr. Wiglesworth, because we may be posi- 



