THE BASS ROCK 205 



23. " The [3] Itineraries of John Ray," 1658-1662.* 

 The next testimony is that of John Ray, whose companions 

 on this his journey to the north were Francis Willughby and 

 Phihp Skippon.f In the diary of his second Itinerary, which 

 is somewhat tantahsing in its brevity, he says : — 



" August 19th [1661] we went [from Dunbar on the coast 

 of Haddingtonshire] to Leith, keeping all along on the side 

 of the Fryth. By the way we viewed Tontallon Castle, J 

 and passed over to the Basse Island, where we saw on the 

 rocks innumerable of the soland geese. The old ones are 

 all over white, excepting the pinion, or hard feathers, of 

 their wings, which are black. The upper part of the head 

 and neck in those that are old is of a yellowish dun colour ; 

 they lay but one egg apiece, which is white, and not very 

 large. They are very bold, and sit in great multitudes till 

 one comes close up to tliem, because they are not wont to be 



* Printed in the " Memorials of John Ray," edited by Dr. E. Lankester 

 in 1846 (p. 154). These three itineraries were first printed by Scott in 1700, 

 and with this edition Dr. Lankester's has been compared. Lankester does 

 not seem to have seen the original MS., which is not at the British 

 Museum, nor with Ray's letters at the Natural History Museum, c/. " Notes 

 and Queries," .June 11th, 1904. Professor Newton suspected one or two 

 misreadings in it. The accompanying portrait of John Ray is with the 

 permission of the editors of " Britisli Birds," borrowed from a valuable 

 article on the life of this worthy by Mr. W. H. Mullens (1909, p. 290). 



•j- Afterwards Sir Philip Skippon. 



f A stronghold of the Douglases wliich still stands on the cliff, but lias 

 suffered much. An abortive attempt was made by James V. to " ding 

 doon Tontallon." 



