rock being 50 ft. above the water, the light 150 ft. above the rock, and 

 the kitchen chimney 20 ft. higher than the light, during a storm last 

 winter the surf poured down the kitchen chimney in such quantity as 

 to put the fire out and flood the room. 



But the number and variety of birds that inhabit the cliffs, caves, 

 rocks, and water of Burrafirth are, perhaps, the most delightful feature 

 of the place. They are there in countless thousands, and the wild 

 confusion and babel of sounds as our boat approached nearer and 

 nearer to the ledges lined with the young, defy description. Tier after 

 tier was crammed with them, higher than our eyes could distinguish 

 the separate birds. Not being an ornithologist, I could not attempt 

 a complete list of the species seen, but amongst those we could 

 identify were the common, herring, and great black-backed gulls, an 

 enormous colony of kittiwakes at the base of one cliff, which at a 

 distance looked like a swarm of gnats, pufBns, razor-bills, cormorants, 

 oyster-catchers, common and black guillimots, common, lesser, arctic, 

 and, 1 think, sooty terns, and a large diver, — whilst soaring hundreds 

 of feet above us on the Saxaford side were a pair of ravens ; and one 

 great skua or Bonxie, which still breeds on the west side of the Firth, 

 flew over our boat. But evening was drawing on, and clouds gathering 

 from the north-west, and our thoughts turned hopefully to the pros- 

 pect of a better night for entomology. 



Returning to the scene of the previous night's failure, we again 

 sugared about a mile and half of posts (too long a round to work 

 properly), and at about 10.45 it was dark enough to commence looking 

 for results. We were not disappointed : Noctua f estiva, var. conjliia, 

 was abundant and in fine condition, two Mamestra furva were soon 

 taken, one or two brightly marked specimens of Charceas graminis, a 

 single T/7j9//(ewo ^ro7i?/&(7, then, with the exception of plenty of conjlua, 

 there was a long interval, although Larentia ccesiata constantly flew to 

 light, and a fine and very varied series was thus secured. About 

 1 a.m., just as it was getting lighter, we had the great pleasure of 

 taking a single specimen of Crymodes exidis in fine condition, soon 

 after which we returned on our homeward journey, hoping for great 

 things the following week. Although we made this fatiguing expedition 

 twice more, not reaching home until the sun was shining brightly in 

 at our blindless windows, no fresh species was taken, nor any more 

 C. exulis, although N. conjiua continued plentiful. 



We had a night's sugaring on the palings round a rough field at 

 Balta Sound, but, with the exception of one or two C. graminis, took 

 nothing. Night after night was clear and cold, with a keen N.E. wind. 



