440 BRITISH BIRDS. 



grounds about the middle of June. When Hewitson visited one of their 

 colonies in the Shetlands on the 31st of May the birds had not arrived ; 

 on the 16th of June they were in the nest, but on the 30th of June a few 

 had laid their egg. 



The Stormy Petrel is generally described as breeding in June and July ; 

 but that this is not always the case, I know from personal observation. 

 In 1856 my friends Mr. and Mrs. Mark Hutchinson invited me to join 

 them in a visit to the Blasquet Islands, off the coast of County Kerry. 

 My friend was an artist and persuaded Mr. Grimshaw, a brother artist 

 whom he met in Dingle, to complete the quartette. We borrowed a couple 

 of regulation tents from a naval officer, and lived in them on the island 

 of Inishmackillaun from the 20th of August to the 18th of September. 

 We pitched our tents near the centre of the island, not far from a magnifi- 

 cent pile of rocks, whence we obtained a panoramic view of our position. 

 More than half the horizon was sea ; to the east we looked upon the rest 

 of the Blasquet Islands ; close to us towered the lofty peak of Inishnubro, 

 two or three hundred feet higher than we were. Beyond it, a little to the 

 left, was the island of Inishtuiskero ; still more to the left the imposing 

 outline of the Tiraght Rock reared majestically from the waves ; and again 

 more to the left the Fore Rocks, dark and massive, just small enough for 

 an Atlantic billow sometimes to dash over, relieved the monotony of the 

 open sea. Beyond Inishnubro was the Great Blasquet, and further still 

 the mainland beginning with the bold promontory of Sybil Head. Nearly 

 due east we looked up Dingle Bay, and more to the right we could 

 distinctly see the lofty peaks that surround Killarney. Beyond them our 

 horizon was the coast of Iveragh as far as Valentia Island, and due south 

 we could discern the two Skellig Rocks in the open sea. Our foreground 

 for half a mile or so all round was a mass of rocks, here and there rising 

 into a grassy knoll generally crowned with rocks. No tree of any descrip- 

 tion was visible ; we did not find so much as a shrub on the whole island, 

 unless half a dozen scattered bramble bushes may be allowed to club 

 together and unitedly attain to the dignity of shrub. The only houses on 

 the island were a couple of cabins, half above and half under ground, 

 without window or chimney, and with no mortar in the walls. 



Whichever way we turned we could see nothing but rocks and piles of 

 rocks, with grassy slopes between, where rabbits abounded and a few sheep 

 grazed. The coast was grand beyond description, most of the island being 

 at an elevation of three or four hundred feet above the level of the waves. 

 Rocky promontories stretched far into the sea ; huge masses of rock pro- 

 truded from the ocean and rose one or two hundred feet high. Here the 

 waves dashed against perpendicular cliffs, and there they foamed and 

 fretted against craggy piles of rocks ; and in many places the sea had 

 hollowed out caves underneath the cliffs or worn chasms in the coast, which 



