The Black-hacks of the Bass. 45 



In 1836 MacGillivray, who had visited the Bass on 13th 

 May 1831, and again, along with Audubon, on 19th August 

 1835, published his " Eapacious Birds," in which (p. 176) 

 is given a list of the birds he observed on the island. Three 

 gulls are included, namely, Larus marinus, L. argentatus, 

 and, of course, the Kittiwake. In his " History of British 

 Birds," vol. v. (1852), he does not mention having seen 

 either species of Black-back on the Bass ; but he describes 

 (p. 535) the young of L. marinus "when about a week old," 

 from " two specimens taken from the Bass Eock, in the end 

 of June 1824, by Mr De Jersey." I am not aware, however, 

 of any character by which chicks of the two species can be 

 distinguished with certainty, so that unless the parents 

 were properly identified, this record is not so convincing as 

 might at first appear. It is not unworthy of remark that 

 in the same volume (p. 540) MacGillivray describes two 

 adult male Lesser Black-backs which " were shot near North 

 Berwick (also) in the end of June 1824." Of course they 

 may not have been breeding in the neighbourhood. 



In 1843 Part IV. of Sir Wm. Jardine's " Birds of Great 

 Britain " (Nat. Lib. Series) was published, and there (p. 300) 

 we find, under Great Black-backed Gull, the following state- 

 ment by that well-known ornithologist. "We have our- 

 selves," he writes, " observed a few pairs breeding on the 

 Bass Eock in the Firth of Forth, and in one or two similarly 

 insulated situations." 



My next quotation is from the Eev. E. B. Graham's 

 description of the Parish of North Berwick, published in 

 1845 in vol. ii. of the "New Statistical Account of Scotland." 

 The article is dated April 1839. and contains (p. 321) the 

 following " statement of the birds that breed on the Bass," 

 as furnished to the compiler by the keeper of the island : — 



" The Solan Goose or Gannet, measuring 6 feet from tip to 

 tip of the wings ; the large black gull, about 5 feet ; the 

 large blue gull, about 4 feet 9 inches ; the kittiwake, about 

 3 feet 7 inches ; the common marrot, or guillemot, about 

 2 feet 8 inches ; the puffin or Tommy-norrie, about 2 feet ; 

 the razor-billed marrot, or common puffin, about 2 feet 4 

 inches ; the falcon or' hawk, the large raven, the eider-duck. 



