48 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



province XIV., in which Berwickshire and Haddingtonshire 

 are includued, but he gives no locality or authority. 



Dr E. 0. Cunningham, in his paper on the Gannet {Ibis, 

 1866), gives a list of "The principal birds that breed on 

 the Bass," and in it the only Black-back mentioned is L. 

 marinus. He states that he visited the Eock in 1862 ; but 

 he does not tell us which of the species he names were 

 observed by himself. Confidence in the list is not increased 

 by the inclusion of the Common Gull {L. canus) and the 

 Cormorant. 



We now come to a very important record, namely, that of 

 E. T. Booth, contained in the Catalogue of Birds in his 

 Museum at Brighton (1876), and in his " Eough Notes " on 

 British Birds. The Catalogue states (p. 173, and Index, p. 7) 

 that case No, 217 contains a pair of Lesser Black-back Gulls, 

 with their eggs, obtained on the Bass Eock in June 1867. 

 When in Brighton a number of years ago (1887), I visited the 

 Museum and took special note of this interesting case. In 

 Part V. of "Eough Notes," issued in 1883, Booth gives 

 (under Gannet) "a list of birds that usually breed on the 

 Bass," as observed by himself : among them are the Lesser 

 Black-back, " seldom more than a pair or two," and the 

 Herring Gull, "scarcely more plentiful than the last" — 

 has found " as many as three nests in one day." He had 

 never noticed the Great Black-back nesting there. This 

 is what he says in his article on that species (Part IX., 

 1885): "The Bass Eock was formerly stated to be fre- 

 quented during the nesting-season; but this resort must, 

 according to my own observations, have been deserted 

 for nearly five-and-twenty years." The following extract 

 from the Catalogue (p. 179) explains the scarcity of the 

 Gulls : — " Some years ago, these birds [Herring Gulls] were 

 plentiful on the Bass, where they nested every season. The 

 person who hired the Eock, finding that the Jackdaws 

 which had recently taken up their quarters in the rabbit- 

 burrows near the summit were very destructive to the 

 eggs of the sea-fowl, endeavoured to destroy them by laying 

 down poisoned bread and butter ; this, however, was 

 greedily devoured by the larger species of gulls, who suffered 



