54 Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society. 



the warning yells of MacLeod, who thought it a very mad 

 exploit. ■ I was fortunate enough to take several eggs of the 

 bridled guillemot {Lonivia troile, var. ring via) from under the 

 sitting birds, thus thoroughly authenticating them. 



Seeing that MacLeod had retired, either not wishing to 

 behold my sad end, or intent on the slaughter of the luckless 

 puffin (at which he was a great adept), I reascended the 

 cliff, and made a second attack on the gannets, after which I 

 turned my attention to the island itself. 



The earliest account of the island of Sula Sgeir of which 

 we have any record is that of Dean Munro, who visited it 

 in 1549. 



He says,^ " be sexteen myle of sea to this ile {i.e., Eona), 

 towards the west lyes ane ile callit Suliskerry, ane myle 

 lang without grasse or hedder, with highe black craigs and 

 black fouge thereupon part of them." He goes on to say 

 how the Lewis men come out for the feathers and young 

 birds, and enters upon a long description of the manners and 

 customs of a bird which he calls a " colk," and which is 

 evidently the eider duck {Somateria mollissima), which I 

 found breeding there in limited numbers. A subsequent 

 visitor to Eona, Dr MacCulloch,^ who visited it in 1819, but 

 owing to a heavy sea was unable to land, gives a very short 

 account of Sula Sgeir, only mentioning its being a great 

 gannet resort. The last account we have is that of Mr T. S. 

 Muir, who seems to have visited the island about 1860. I 

 believe only about twenty copies of his notes were privately 

 printed.^ 



He describes Sula Sgeir as " a narrow stripe of rock, little 

 more than one-third of a mile in length. Eising in most 

 parts to a considerable height, and everywhere ruggedly 

 indented by gloomy chasms, pools, and creeks, it presents a 

 very naked and repulsive appearance." 



He then proceeds to state that the southern end, however, 



1 Description of the Western Isles of Scotland, called Hybrides, Edinburgh, 

 1774, p. 47. 



2 Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, London, 1819, p. 204. 



^ Inchcolm, Aberdour, North Eona, Sula Sgeir ; A Sketch, addressed to 

 J. Y. , Minster Yard, Lincoln, j). 34. 



