On the Oniithology of the Fame Islands. i6i 



c Pickmires The Tern. 



8th. Sea Piots The Oystercatcher. 



Frequently known as the Seapye. 

 As Willoughby probably obtained his information from his 

 host, Sir Wilham Foster, who at that early date had a small 

 collection of " stuft " birds, and from the Bamboro' fishermen, 

 it is remarkable that his list is so correct. With two exceptions 

 these birds are found to breed on the islands at the present time. 

 The Black Guillemot, according to Selby, in his day bred in 

 the Isle of May some sixty miles further north, and so may 

 formerly have frequented the Fames; but the Black-headed 

 Gull, being an inland breeder, could hardly have resorted thither 

 for nidification. 



It is not a little curious that the majority of the species 

 frequenting the Fames in any quantity, for breeding purposes 

 select different islands for their stations. For instance the 

 Cormorants are entirely confined to the Megstone, a rock 

 inaccessible except in quite smooth water. They have tried 

 on several occasions to establish a colony on the South 

 Wamses, but the Lesser Black-backed Gulls, which breed in 

 great quantities on this island, were too much for them, and 

 being unable to hold their own, they soon had to retire to their old 

 quarters. The Sandwich Terns are confined to the Knoxie (the 

 northern end of the West Wide-open) and the Longstone. The 

 Common and Arctic Terns have colonies on the same islands 

 and on the Brownsman. The Puffins breed only on the North 

 Wamses and the Staples. The Guillemots and the Kittiwakes 

 resort to the Pinnacles and the Skeney Scar end of the 

 Staples, whilst the Eider and the Lesser Black-backed Gull are 

 more widely distributed. 



The only small bird that breeds on the islands is the Rock 

 ViY)\t—AnthHS obscunis (Latham) a bird which was first 

 recognised as a distinct species by British Ornithologists. It is 

 purely a shore bird. In its actions it much reminds one of a 

 wagtail as it runs from rock to rock, searching for its food 

 amongst the seaweed thrown up by the tide, and it is 

 constantly in the nesting time, enlivening the scene with its 

 short but cheerful song, which seems strangely at variance 

 with the screaming of the sea birds and the surging of the 

 water against the rocks. Its nest, composed of dry crrass is 

 placed amongst the crevices of the rocks, or under a tuft' of 

 tall grass, and is not at all easy to find except by careful watching 

 Professor Newton notes that a curious fact in the distribution 

 of this bird, is, that it breeds on the whole of the English 

 coast with the exception of that part between the Thames and 

 the Humber. 



The Ringed Plover {Charadritis hiaticula, Linnceus) breeds in 



