36 The Birds of the 



of the Fames. They have placed at their own cost 

 watchers on the chief islands, and give leave to land 

 to anyone who promises in writing to conform to the 

 rules of their association, one of which is that without 

 special permission not a single egg shall for a time be 

 taken. 



What most forcibly impresses a visitor on landing, 

 after he has recovered a little from his astonishment 

 at the number of birds still remaining and their tame- 

 ness, and his ears are becoming more accustomed to 

 the Babel of cries all round him, is perhaps the 

 regular and orderly manner in which the nesting- 

 grounds are divided among the different species, and 

 the honourable manner in which the arrangements 

 agreed upon are carried out. According to Reginald 

 it was St. Cuthbert himself who mapped the Islands 

 out for them. 



The first colony we invaded consisted entirely of 

 the lesser black-backed and herring gulls. These 

 two species (the black-backs were by far the more 

 numerous, perhaps in the proportion of eight or 

 ten to one) share between them the flat table-land of 

 the island, which is patched with a thick growth of 

 bladder campion and another plant, with a succulent 

 stalk and white blossom, but for the most part bare 

 rock, split into steps, with little but lichen growing 

 on it. The nests, which are placed without any 

 attempt at concealment, are all on the ground, and 

 are at best a few stalks of grass or campion arranged 

 like a saucer, but in many instances the eggs are laid 

 without even this provision being made for them. 

 They were as thick on the bare rock as in the cover. 

 One or two nests had in them young birds in speckled 

 down, just hatched ; but nearly all had two or three 

 eggs in, varying often much in colour. 



