88 LETTERS. 



RATS AND MANX SHEARWATERS. 



To the Editors of British" Birds. 



Sirs,— On the question raised by my note in your last number (p. o'i) 

 as to the presence of rats on the Island of Annet in the Scilly Isles, I 

 have made careful inquiries from those who are most in the habit 

 of visiting that island, and they all say that there are none there to their 

 knowledge, but that these rodents are present on the islands of Arthur, 

 Sampson, Tresco, St. Helens, and some of the small eastern islands. 



I should have written the word " some " instead of " many " when 

 mentioning the number of Manx Shearwaters' skins found turned 

 inside out. 



It is very probable that the larger species of Black-backed Gull 

 swallows these birds whole, as it does Puffins, for their holding capacity 

 is enormous, a friend of mine extracting a large eel measuring eighteen 

 inches in length from a nestling in the down last month. The eel 

 was minus its head — absorbed in the process of digestion — and its tail 

 was protruding fully an inch from the chick's beak. 



H. W. RoBixsox. 



