The Birds of Pembrokeshire. 113 
Skokholm, which is uninhabited, and is merely a summer run 
for sheep. A few may nest on Ramsey Island, and we have seen 
the birds in Ramsey Sound, but Mr. Mortimer Propert is not 
sure that they do. ‘The Shearwaters are occasionally seen in 
flocks in Fishguard Bay. We were for some time doubtful, and 
rather incredulous, as to any Shearwaters nesting on Caldy, 
which in our opinion seemed too tame an island for them, but 
after the evidence that we subjoin, it is without question that a 
few do so, or at least upon the connected island of St. Margaret’s. 
In the summer of 1887, Mr. E. W. H. Blagg, who was then 
staying at Tenby, informs us that several evenings he saw a large 
flock of Manx Shearwaters flying off Caldy Island, and believed 
that the birds nested there. Mr. Dix states, ‘‘ numbers breed at 
Caldy Island,”’ but we had an idea that they had ceased to do 
so since he wrote this, a quarter of a century ago. On several 
occasions, when we ourselves have visited Tenby, on making 
inquiries, we failed to find anyone who could tell us if there 
were still Shearwaters upon Caldy; indeed, we were once 
expressly told that no such birds were known upon the island. 
Writing to us upon this point, Mr. C. Jefferys, of Tenby, states : 
“The Manx Shearwater wsed to breed upon Caldy, and I think 
a few still do now in the fissures of the cliffs. I can give you 
more decided information about St. Margaret’s Island, which, as 
you know, is connected with Caldy by a reef of rocks, dry at low 
water. While on this island last May (1893) I frightened out 
of holes and fissures four or five Manx Shearwaters ; they 
appeared to come from cracks about half-way down the cliffs, 
and may, or may not, have been nesting there; it certainly looks 
as if they were.” We believe, ourselves, that the “Cockles” 
only frequent and nest on islands where there is a sufficient 
quantity of soil upon the top for them to dig their burrows, 
and that they are for this reason absent from islands that are 
mere rock, but this would certainly not apply to Caldy, which 
is suitable to the birds in every respect, except that it is too 
much run over, and the birds may therefore have been frightened 
away from it. 
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