76 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



the Gulls. I often sat for hours together upon 

 some advantageously situated crag, and watched 

 the males feeding and toying with their brooding 

 mates as they sat on the ledges or steep grassy 

 slopes of the stupendous cliifs. One of the bird's 

 strange peculiarities is that it is seldom seen fly- 

 ing over even the smallest point of land, so that 

 upon arriving in Village Bay and climbing to the 

 top of the cliff immediately behind the dwellings 

 of the St. Kildans, the visitor is struck by the 

 entire absence of the species, even when he is 

 within a hundred yards of thousands upon thou- 

 sands sitting on their nests, or sailing along on 

 outstretched wings in front of the dizzying preci- 

 pice. Upon looking over, the birds may be seen 

 sitting amongst the sea-pink and grass growing 

 on ledges and untreadable slopes, in such vast 

 numbers that they look like small fields of daisies. 

 Although the majority of birds nest in such situa- 

 tions, many of them drop their single egg in a 

 little hollow scratched in bare earth, or amongst 

 small stones and chippings on a ledge or in a 

 crevice of rock. In. spite of the fact that the 

 nests were in the most fearsome situations, by 

 dint of care I succeeded in getting down to 

 several and examining them without the aid of a 

 rope, and my brother secured the illustrations on 

 the opposite page in Soay, without any help ; but, 

 frankly speaking, such work is only for cool heads 

 and strong limbs, in addition to some previous 

 experience in crag-climbing. 



The Fulmar Petrel has within recent times 

 established itself in Foula, and whilst in the 

 Shetlands in 1898 I saw it breeding in the cliffs 

 of Unst opposite the Muckle Flugga Lighthouse, 

 where its eggs were taken a day or two after 



