12 A Visit to the Blasket Islands, &^c. 



Inishnabro on the 29tli of May, 1889, which can only be that 

 of Leaches Petrel, and which I have carefully compared with 

 several specimens in Mr. Seebohm's splendid collection. A 

 similar egg was taken on the 1st of July, 1886, by Mr. Regan, 

 the keeper of the lighthouse on Inishtearaght, the most 

 westerly of the Blaskets (Ussher, 'Zoologist,' 1886, p. 367), 

 and shortly afterwards a second egg was procured on the same 

 island (Ussher, ' Zoologist,' 1887, p. 349) . My egg measures 

 1*31 inch in length and '97 in breadth. 



The foregoing list comprises all the species of birds which 

 I found breeding on these islands. They are, of course, visited 

 by many other species, both in summer aud in winter, 

 and more extended observations would add several species to 

 the list of breeding-birds. In the various Reports on the 

 Migration of Birds, accounts of the occurrence of many 

 interesting species are to be found, both from the lighthouse- 

 keeper on Inishtearaght and from that on the Great 

 Skellig. In spring, and especially in autumn, almost any 

 British bird may accidentally wander as far as the Blaskets. 



During his stay on luishvickillane in 1856, Mr. Seebohm 

 actually shot a Hoopoe {Upupa epops) on the island, and 

 he assures me that in those days the White-tailed Eagle 

 {Haliaetus albicilla) bred every year on Inishnabro. We were 

 informed that it used to breed on the Great Blasket, but 

 that it had ceased to do so for many years. It has been 

 recorded that the Black Guillemot {Uria ffrylle) nests nu- 

 merously on the cliffs near Dingle and on some of the 

 Blasket Islands (Payne-Gallwey, "^ Fowler in Ireland,' p. 287), 

 but I have never been fortunate enough to discover any traces 

 either of these birds or of the Great Shearwater {Puffinus 

 major). I trust, however, that I may be more fortunate 

 when next I visit this paradise of sea-fowl. 



