THE PUFFIN. 433 



me through various correspondents. Writing from Brigus, New- 

 foundland, on 8th November, 1869, my friend, Dr William 

 Anderson, says : " Our harbour, and, in fact, the whole bay, were 

 visited by a great number of Little Auks last week. Men went 

 out in boats shooting them for three successive days, and I think 

 some thousands were killed. Some might have been shot on the 

 water from the balcony of my house. They were thought to indicate 

 rough weather out at sea, and the specimens I handled were in 

 poor condition." 



In Macgillivray's British Birds it is stated that the Little Auk 

 breeds at St. Abb's Head, but I have never seen the species there, 

 although I have undertaken several journeys expressly for the pur- 

 pose of looking for it. I have, however, seen at least two specimens 

 in the month of June on the Bass Rock, where they were probably 

 breeding. Mr Macgillivray himself observed two on the same 

 rock,* so that it is likely a few pairs may remain with us 

 during the nesting season. As collateral evidence on this point, 

 it may be mentioned that Pennant, in his 'Tour in Scotland,' 

 records having seen the species on the Fame islands on 15th July, 

 1769; and also that the late Mr Thompson, in his ' Birds of 

 Ireland,' narrates that "on 19th May, 1849, Mr Darragh, of the 

 Belfast Museum, saw four Little Auks on Ailsa Craig : one of them 

 remained on the water at the base of the Craig until approached 

 by the boat within about eighty yards, when it flew off in the 

 direction which its three companions had taken a minute before." 



THE PUFFIN. 



FRATERCULA ARCTIC A. 

 Fachach. Seumas ruadh. (Barra.) 



THIS very interesting bird is perhaps the most abundant species 

 of sea-fowl to be met with in the West of Scotland, some of the 

 breeding-places being literally over-stocked with it. Its haunts 

 are numerously distributed from Barra Head to the Butt of Lewis 

 on the one hand, and from Cape Wrath to the Scaur Rocks, in the 

 Bay of Luce, on the other. Westwards of the Long island, it is 



* < Manual of British Ornithology,' Part II., Water Birds, p. 215. 

 2C 



