LETTER X. 01 



end of June, and consequently I shall be absent the best part of 

 the egg season. 



I shall conclude with a few notes of the month : 



May 1st. Considerable flocks of Whimbrels arrived. I killed 

 three couple with great ease, and found them in very good con- 

 dition, which may be taken as a proof that their last stage was 

 not a very long or harassing one. These birds continue very 

 numerous during the whole of May, but as soon as June com- 

 mences they disappear as suddenly as they arrived. lona is not 

 one of their halting-places on their return south, for we are not 

 visited by them in autumn, except by an occasional straggler. 



May 1 2th. The Terns and Corncrakes arrived. Their 

 appearance is so precisely punctual to the day, that I would as 

 soon date by it as I would by the almanac. The Herring Gull 

 (Larus argentatus) is with us far more common than the Lesser 

 Black-backed Gull (L. fuscus), except at this time of the year, 

 when great numbers of the latter are seen in all the newly-sown 

 fields, busily eating the corn among flocks of wild Pigeons and 

 trespassing poultry. They are at such times extremely wary, 

 and indeed at all times they appear , to be much more so than 

 the Grey Gulls. 



I shall now drop anchor, as I have been out all night in an 

 open boat a two-masted skiff, with three reefs in the mainsail, 

 battling against a heavy sea and head wind blowing very hard. 

 I landed at five in the morning, well drenched with rain and 

 spray. 



