FORK-TAILED PETREL. 505 



rocky slopes of the island, and passed eastwards in the direction 

 of Ardnamurchan. In the early dawn I have also seen large 

 numbers hovering like swallows over a turbulent sea off that 

 headland, and have invariably regarded their flight with feelings 

 of admiration. There is something truly elegant in their aerial 

 movements as they soar a moment or two above a huge wave, and 

 then sweep down into the hollow, rising with the curling mass 

 of water until it breaks, when they dart high into the air with a 

 rocket-like flight; and no one who has really watched them with 

 pleasure will, I think, deny that this is one of the most interesting 

 sights a yachting naturalist can enjoy. 



OBS. I find the CINEREOUS SHEARWATER (Puffinus cinereus) 

 recorded by Messrs Baikie and Heddle, in a manuscript note, as 

 having occurred in Shetland; and the species also catalogued by 

 the late Mr Sinclair of Wick, as a rare visitant to the county 

 of Caithness. 



THE FOEK-TAILED PETEEL. 



TEA LA SS ID ROM A LEA CHI1. 

 Gobhlan goidhe (Barra). 



THIS species, which was originally discovered about fifty years ago 

 on the island of St. Kilda by Mr Bullock, has since been found 

 breeding there in a colony which has established itself on Dun 

 an isolated stack under the loose rocks near the summit, and is 

 also known to frequent the island of Mingalay in Barra, where a 

 few pairs incubate every year in company with the next species. 

 The eggs in the last-mentioned locality are, according to Mr Elwes, 

 found principally in holes and cracks in the dry peat on the top of 

 the cliffs. There is a more extensive breeding place in the island 

 of Rum situated on rough stony ground at the north-west side at a 

 place called Braedinach. Having repeatedly obtained specimens 

 within the parish of the " small isles," I some years ago instituted 

 inquiries which resulted in the discovery of this additional nursery. 

 Though a strictly western species in Scotland, it appears to be 

 gradually extending its habitats, and is likely to spread in the 

 direction of the mainland as the Hebridean haunts become over- 

 populated. I look^upon it, indeed, as equal in numbers to the 

 storm petrel. 



