XXXIl. The Birds of Pembrokeshire. 
pure white wings that was a very conspicuous object among its 
companions. After a while this bird flew close to where we were 
seated upon a cushion of Sea Pink, and might easily have been 
secured had we had a gun. In the dwelling-house we were shown a 
pure albino Puffin that was justly considered a great rarity. The 
Puffins arrive upon the island, as we were informed, with great 
punctuality on the rst of April, and leave it early in August. It was 
at the end of May when we paid our never-to-be-forgotten visit, and 
there were then numerous young Puffins hatched in the burrows, 
judging from the numbers of old birds that we saw flying in from the 
sea with bunches of small fish hanging like ribbands from their 
mandibles. In our account of the Manx Shearwater in the body of 
the book we have given our experiences of this interesting bird on 
Skomer, so need not repeat them here. All day long Herring Gulls 
may be observed quartering the island in their vigilant quest after 
young rabbits; they frequently dig them out of the stops; while the 
Puffins and Shearwaters are continually worrying the breeding rab- 
bits in their earths. Since the Sea Birds’ Preservation Act was 
passed the rabbits on Skomer have greatly fallen off in number ; the 
annual take, which used to be 9,000, is now reduced to barely 3,000 ; 
a very serious loss to the tenant. 
A grand cliff at Wick Haven, facing to the south-west, is the 
chief breeding station of the Guillemots, Razorbills, and Kittiwakes. 
Here, on the higher ledges, the two first sat row upon row, in places 
five and six deep, and every coign of vantage on the top of the 
cliff was tenanted by the inevitable Puffins. The lower ledges were 
occupied by countless Kittiwakes, either sitting upon, or standing 
close by, their nests, that, like the structures of the House Martin, 
seemed at a distance to be made of mud, and to be plastered against 
the face of the cliff. In reality they are built of sea-weed and 
grass, that become cemented together by the mutings of the birds. 
The cries of the various birds created a deafening concert ; while 
their frequent arrivals, departures, and transits across the field of 
vision, had almost a bewildering effect. A little further on a colony 
of Lesser Black-backed Gulls had a station on the summit, and we 
were able to walk among their nests, some containing eggs. Choughs 
