OCEANODROMA LEUCORRHOA, 4A5 
[§ 5143. Zwo—North Rona, 1 July, 1886... From Mr. R. 
M. Barrington. 
These are a kind gift from Mr. Barrington, who wrote :—“T reached home 
safely from Rona. It is a difficult island to get at, being thirty-nine miles from 
the Butt of Lewis—more difficult to reach than St. Kilda. We hadtogoina 
large open fishing-boat, and were sixteen hours sailing from Ness. We almost 
gave it up, as a thick fog came on and we could see nothing for twelve hours. 
However, at 10.30 p.m. the mist rose slightly, and we sighted breakers five 
milesaway. It was just a chance, and we were actually on the return journey 
when, to our great relief, land became visible. The seven men in the boat 
did not know where we were, and only two of them had been to Rona before. 
It is uninhabited. Two men died there in the winter of 1884-5, having been 
there five or six months. The sailors with us would not sleep in the house 
they died in, and two of us had to lie in a stone hut on the clay floor, six feet 
by fifteen or thereabouts, the roof full of holes and the door four feet by two. 
Immediately on landing the boat had to be hauled with a differential pulley 
(specially brought) up rocks at an angle of 45°. It was quite light at midnight, 
and the men went at once in search of birds, returning in a few minutes with 
a dozen young Shags, which they plucked, singed, and ate with great gusto. 
The Shag is more abundant in Rona than at any rock or island I have visited. 
There were no Cormorants, and Shags formed the principal food of the men during 
the three days we remained on the island, being much preferred to Puffins, 
Razorbills, or Guilemots.... The first thing which struck me when we landed 
at midnight was the chirruping of the Stormy Petrels, under almost every stone. 
There was quite a ‘churr’ all round at the north-west end of the island. 
Then the note of the Oyster-catcher, which ran about everywhere, became 
very monotonous. The Fork-tailed Petrel did not breed with the great colony 
of Stormy Petrels; but at the opposite end of the island in holes in the old 
fences round the now long-deserted habitations of former dwellers on this 
distant isle. Here a few Stormy Petrels bred also, and in the old houses 
themselves, about 150 yards from the sea, a colony of Black Guillemots had 
established themselves. Perched on the grassy roofs, they greatly astonished 
me, as I never saw them up in fields before, but always along the cliffs, 
breeding in cracks and fissures, and hard to get at. Yet here were a couple 
of dozen breeding in the stone walls of deserted sheep-houses and hovels used 
long ago by man. Here we got one or two Fork-tailed Petrels and a Stormy. 
On the island of Borrera, one of the St. Kilda group, the Fork-tailed Petrel 
was breeding among the clods of dry turf which were stowed away for fuel, 
by the natives in their ‘cleats’—low stone houses to keep the peat from 
getting wet.... Wetook {in North Rona]eight Fork-tailed Petrels’ eggs, 
three old birds, and two nestlings—little lumps of oil covered with the 
darkest blue-grey down.” A few days after he wrote:—‘‘I send you two 
Fork-tailed Petrels’ eggs from North Rona, also two Stormy Petrels’ (§ 5167). 
Between us we have eight of the former. I did not like making a great haul. 
I dare say I might have procured three or four dozens, but I did not wish to 
turn into an egg-dealer. They were taken Ist July.... They are a little 
dirty, partly due to sandy clay and probably Petrels’ feet.” ] 
