4 Mr. W. H. Turle— ^ Visit 



tearaglit and another to Inishvickillane, where our head- 

 quarters were, we crossed over to the Great Blasket. There 

 is a small village at the east end of this island, which has about 

 150 inhabitants. They are a curious, quaint lot of people, 

 mostly fishermen, and they live in very primitive cabins, 

 made of mud and stones. We had a very successful day 

 on the cliffs, and returned to our -head quarters at night. 



We spent most of the next day in blowing and packing 

 our eggs. On the day following the fishing-smack arrived by 

 appointment to take us to the Skellig Rocks, but the wind 

 proving contrary, we ran on to Dingle to wait for a favourable 

 breeze. Fortunately the wind changed during the night, 

 and we lost no time in crossing Dingle Bay, and, passing 

 between Valentia Island and the mainland, we weighed 

 anchor at Portmagee and rowed out to Pufl&n Island. As we 

 stepped on shore we saw rabbits hurrying away to their 

 burrows, and were soon lost in amazement at the prodigious 

 numbers of Manx Shearsvaters which breed on the island. 

 We returned to Portmagee in the evening and sailed the 

 next day to the Little Skellig, where the great colony of 

 Gannets now is. After visiting the Great Skellig we started 

 for home in the afternoon, but, although we had a fair wind, 

 it was dark before we landed on the quay at Dingle. 



The following notes comprise the most interesting of the 

 ornithological observaticms made during the trip. 



Falco peregrinus. 



The Peregrine breeds annually on the island of Inishnabro 

 in a cleft of a high cliff overhanging the sea. As we neared 

 the spot the male bird began to fly round in circles, evi- 

 dently uneasy at our approach. The female sat very close ; 

 we had to throw several stones down the cliff before she 

 flcTv off and showed us the exact position of the nest, far 

 away down the cliff. The rope having been adjusted, we 

 lowered the climber down the precipice until two hundred 

 feet of rope had been paid out. When I looked over the 

 edge to see if the nest had been reached, a faint cry from 

 below demanded more rope. Hand over hand we let out 



