to the Blasket Islands, ifc. 11 



Larus tridactylus. 



Kittiwakes are very numerous^ both at the Blaskets and 

 on the Skellig Rocks, and breed in thousands on the cliffs, 

 especially on Inishtearaght and the Little Skellig. Now and 

 then we saw a flock of these charming birds following a shoal of 

 fish, and near their breeding-stations their cries were con- 

 stantly to be heard. 



Procellaria pelagica. 



In a comparatively modern work, published in 1856 

 (' FuUerton^s Gazetteer of the World,' i. p. 779), it is stated 

 that " innumerable flocks of sea-fowl frequent the Blaskets 

 or Ferriters Islands ; among them is a delicious bird called 

 in Irish Gourdet, resembling the Ortolan, and said to be 

 peculiar to the Blaskets. '^ Who would guess that this 

 bird is the Stormy Petrel ? There is an account of 

 the excellence of the Stormy Petrel as an article of diet 

 in a book published thirty years later (Seebohm's ' British 

 Birds,' iii. p. 441). Mr. Seebohm spent a month on the 

 Blasket Islands in the autumn of the very same year in 

 which Fullerton^s Gazetteer was published, and obtained 

 both eggs and young in various stages of growth in the 

 middle of September. It is quite obvious that the Stormy 

 Petrel must rear two broods in the year, for I obtained a good 

 many of their eggs in the last week of May on Inishnabro, 

 the very island where Mr. Seebohm procured some in 1856. 

 They were breeding amongst the rocks, and in what had 

 evidently beeu rabbits' holes. I also found them breeding on 

 Inishvickillane, and eggs were sent to me later on from both 

 the Inishtearaght and Skellig lighthouses. In a recent work 

 (Payne-Gallwey, 'Fowler in Ireland,' p. 259) mention is 

 made of the Stormy Petrel hatching her thi'ee white eggs. 

 Though I have seen several dozens of nests, I have never 

 come across more than one egg in the same hole. 



Procellaria leucorrhoa. 



Leach's Fork-tailed Petrel probably breeds in various 

 places on the south-west coast of Ireland, and possibly in 

 greater numbers than has been suspected. I got an egg on 



