248 Miss Baxter and Miss Kintoiil on the [This, 



In old days the Isle of May was a famous place of jhI- 

 grimage : St. Adrian and his companions abode on the 

 island in the ninth century, and the saint was slain there 

 by the Danes about 872 a.d. Before the middle of the 

 twelfth century David I. founded a monastery on the island 

 and granted it to the Benedictine Abbey of Reading, on 

 condition that it would maintain therein nine priests of 

 their brethren, to celebrate divine service for the souls 

 of the donor, his predecessors and successors, the Kings of 

 Scotland. In the thirteenth century the Priory of May was 

 sold to tlie Bishop of St. Andrews, and it remained under the 

 spiritual lordship of the Priory of St. Andrews until 1606, 

 when the lands were erected irito a temporal lordship. There 

 are many reminders of the ecclesiastical foundation: a small 

 building on the eastern side is said to be the remains of the 

 chapel, while the names borne by different parts of the island, 

 such as Pilgrim Haven, Altarstanes, Holyman's lload, and 

 others, form a link with the pilgrims of old. The island 

 was purchased early last century by the Commissioners of 

 Northern Lights, to whom it now belongs. 



The lighthouse stands on the liighest part of the island, 

 on the western side, 240 feet above the sea: it is an electric 

 light, and said to be 3,000,000 candle-power. Close by, on 

 the other side of a hollow, is the old lighthouse, a square, 

 stone, white-washed tower 40 feet high, built in 1636 by 

 Alexander Cunningham of Barnes -the first lighthouse to be 

 erected in Scotland. On the east side of the island, at a 

 considerably lower altitude, stands a third lighthouse, for- 

 merly used to indicate the position of the North Carr Rocks, 

 but now no longer in use. During our visits to the island, 

 the only inhabitants were the lightkeepers, to wliom we 

 were indebted for many kindnesses and much assistance 

 in our ornithological work. 



It is a fortunate circumstance that the lightkeepers 

 stationed on the Isle of May have been so often interested 

 in observing and recording the birds which occurred there. 

 Mr. Joseph Agnew made an excellent series of notes, from 

 1879 to 1886, for the British Association Reports on the 



