66 Mr John MacGillivray on the Island of St Kilda. 
‘upon the water. It requires great dexterity, however, to suc- 
ceed in this, and I have often seen it fail, especially in calm 
weather, or when there is only a slight breeze, the bird being 
awakened by the noise of the gliding of the boat through the 
water, and rising on wing, when it invariably disgorges with 
a loud harsh scream. The pasture on the island of Borreray 
is nearly destroyed by the gannets, which have dug great 
numbers of large deep holes in the turf, to procure materials 
for their nests, which are composed externally of sea-weed. 
The latter substance many of them must procure from a dis- 
tance of 60 miles or more, there not being a sufficiency in any 
of the St Kilda Isles. In fact, I have seen a gannet flying 
apparently from Harris, with a large quantity of sea-weed in 
its bill. The force with which the gannet plunges from on 
wing in pursuit of a fish is astonishingly great. The follow- 
ing story, illustrating this point, was related to me by more 
than one person both in St Kilda and Harris, and I believe to 
be true. Several years ago, an open boat was returning from 
St Kilda to Harris, and a few herrings happened to be lying 
in the bottom, close to the edge of the ballast. A gannet 
passing over head, stopping for a moment, suddenly darted 
down upon the fish, and passed through the bottom of the 
boat as far as the middle of the body, which being retained in 
that position by one of the crew, effectually stopped the leak 
until they had reached their destination. The long streak of 
foam which follows the plunge of the gannet may be dis- 
tinctly seen at the distance of more than a mile, when the bird 
itself is far below the surface, and of course invisible. 
The account given by Martin of the barren gannets, which 
roost separately from the others, was confirmed by the natives. 
The stormy Petrel is abundant in St Kilda, but whether 
Thalassidroma Bullockii is there equally common with the 
other species, I am not able to determine. The island of 
Soay is the principal breeding-place of this bird, where, as 
well as in several spots among the others of the group, it 
nestles among debris and in crevices of the rocks, laying, ac- 
cording to my informants, for I never found the nest_myself, 
one, sometimes two eggs. ‘The bird sits very close upon the 
nest, from which it will allow itself to be taken by the hand, 
