The Birds of Pembrokeshire. XXix. 
easy, and on reaching the grassy part the attention is immediately 
arrested by the countless numbers of Puffins which come into view; 
these on rising and flying overhead, for the moment completely 
shade the sun. There are also Gulls, but not so numerous, such 
as the Herring Gull, the Lesser Black-backed Gull, and the Greater 
Black-backed Gull, and nearly all round the island the pretty and 
sociable Kittiwake is to be met with in large colonies, and may 
readily be got at; on one occasion, Mr. Mortimer D. Propert 
found four Kittiwake’s eggs in one nest, which is an unusual 
occurrence, for the Kittiwake mostly lays two eggs, sometimes three, 
and very rarely four. Razorbills and Guillemots likewise are found 
in very great numbers and in close proximity to the Gannets. 
The Gannets, of course, form the most attractive feature of 
Grasholm, which holds a conspicuous place in our account of the 
county Ornis, as it is the only spot off the coast of Pembrokeshire 
that furnishes a nesting station to these fine birds that are said to 
have been originally a settlement from Lundy, where they sustained 
such persecution from the hands of the channel pilots and other egg 
stealers, that many of them were driven to forsake that island in 
search of a more inaccessible, solitary, and peaceful residence. 
Here, on Grasholm, the Gannet is found at all ages and in every 
stage of its growth, and no sight can be more striking and 
impressive than the beautiful and brilliant plumage of these birds, 
as seen in the early morning sun, when some are sitting on their 
plateau and ledges, some on their nests, and others flying about 
fishing in pursuit of food. In addition to the main colony, where 
one can walk about among the nests, which are large structures, and 
not over savoury from the remains of decaying fish, there are on the 
north-west of the island two or three smaller colonies, and the total 
number of Gannets’ nests were, in the spring of 1886, estimated by 
Mr. Mortimer D. Propert at two hundred and fifty, so that at that 
time there were upon Grasholm about five hundred breeding 
Gannets. 
We have been fortunate in having been able to procure from 
Mr. C. Jefferys, of Tenby, two very interesting photographs of 
Grasholm, one representing the Kittiwakes on their nests close to the 
