Wandermgs of a Naturalist 



and a collar of greyish black, which did not, however, extend 

 all the way round the neck. Round each eye a patch of 

 greyish black. 



By August 13, a fine, sunny day, almost all the young 

 kittiwakes were strong on the wing, but the late-hatched 

 chick to which I have referred still had some down adhering 

 to it. I think that by this time some of the kittiwakes had 

 left the island, but as yet there was no appreciable decrease 

 in their numbers. On August 31 the solitary young kitti- 

 wake had not even then left the nest, though it seemed ready 

 to do so. By this date nearly the whole kittiwake population 

 had departed, and the rocks seemed strangely quiet and 

 deserted. There is probably no bird so devoted to its nest 

 as the kittiwake, and even now, when autumn had arrived, I 

 saw some of the birds still brooding on their empty nests. 

 On September 8, the last time I visited the island to study 

 the life of its sea birds, out of the thousands of kittiwakes 

 nesting on the cliffs, only two birds remained at their nests, 

 and the only young birds on the island were a nestful of 

 young shags. 



About this time many young kittiwakes were to be seen 

 on a minute rocky island about fifteen miles south of that 

 on which they were reared, but before the end of September 

 they had moved south and would not return again till the 

 spring. 



50 



