102 SEA-BIRDS 



Gannets have been taken on Eldey off the south-west peninsula, one 

 of the largest gannetries in the world. (This was declared a sanctuary 

 and gannet-taking was forbidden in 1940.) The main annual catch 

 of gannets here between 19 10 and 1939 was 3,257, the extremes being 

 200 and 4,000; the fowlers never took quite half the total annual 

 output of young. On the Westmann Islands gannet-fowling has 

 been known for two-and-a-half centuries, and no doubt has gone on 

 ever since the islands were colonised in the tenth century. Here 

 the total population of nests is now of the order of 5,500. The number 

 of young taken has seldom been more than a quarter of the total 

 output, most being killed on the flat top of the most inaccessible 

 of the breeding cliffs, Siilnasker. In the middle of the 19th century 

 it was alleged that as many as 80,333 puffins were taken yearly in the 

 Westmann Islands, but during the present century the take has seldom 

 exceeded 50,000, and has often been between 20,000 and 30,000. 

 At Grimsey often very large numbers of kittiwakes are taken, however, 

 more than 10,000 in some years, and nearly as many puffins, but only 

 a few hundred guillemots. Very many eggs are taken on Grimsey, 

 particularly those of guillemots, of which about 12,000 are collected 

 in a normal year, and a number of kittiwakes' eggs also. 



Since the first accurate figures of 1897, there has been a slow decline 

 in the number killed for food in Iceland. This should be associated with 

 a recent human movement in Iceland from the coastal farms to the 

 towns. Certain parts of Iceland's coast, formerly inhabited by farmer- 

 fishermen are quite deserted, e.g. the northern part of the north- 

 west peninsula. Even in the Westmann Islands, where the fowling 

 tradition is very strong, there has been a slight decline. However, as 

 long as the Icelanders regard fowling as a manly sport, hallowed by 

 generations by tradition, as well as a gainful occupation, fowling will 

 continue on its present lines. 



A conclusion from a study of the fowling on St. Kilda, the Faeroes 

 and Iceland is that sea-birds were (and are) a source of cheap and good 

 food, which can be indefinitely enjoyed, provided a calculated harvest 

 be taken from the cliffs which leaves a strong adult population behind. 

 Further, this harvest can be large and yet not materially effect the 

 size of the colony. Experience over some hundreds of years shows that 

 large numbers of eggs* can be taken from those species such as the 

 guillemot which readily lay replacements, and that from all others 



*As this book lay in proof the publication began of a most informative summary of 

 egg-exploitation, by Hugh B. Cott (1953). 



