The Zoologist— September, 1868. 1371 



times found their eggs close together. They are not so much given 

 to laying their eggs in the crannies; they lay on the bare rock, some- 

 limes on ledges two inches wide, where, owing to their pear-shaped 

 form, they turn round instead of rolling off when the bird gets off its 

 perch. The bright colours of the beautiful eggs look very pretty on 

 the gray rocks ; they are of all colours, from deep green to pale sea- 

 green, from pure white to light blue, and of all kinds of marking, 

 zigzag lines and blotches and spots and speckles and specks. After 

 examining their breeding-places we prepare to descend, which is by 

 far the most difficult task, owing to the smoothness of the rocks, 

 rendered slippery by the excrement of the birds. With great care 

 I follow the climber, and clamber down the precipice ; one false step 

 and one would be dashed to pieces on the beach below. The only 

 place where I have a difficulty is crossing a sort of chasm with 

 slippery rocks on each side: I leap and throw myself on the rock on 

 the other side in safety, and a few more cool and cautious steps bring 

 us to the bottom, which I am thankful to reach safely. Donning coat 

 and boots, &c, we each shoulder a bunch of sixteen or eighteen birds 

 and trudge along to the house, leaving the rest to be brought round in 

 the boat. The birds are spread out in the empty room of the house, 

 ready to be conveyed to Girvan, Ballantrae and other places to be 

 plucked. I observed on the ledges many ringed guillemots breeding 

 promiscuously with the common guillemot: the proportion seems 

 about twelve common to one of the ringed. 



Lesser Blackbacked Gull. — The lesser blackbacked gull breeds on 

 the dome of Ailsa among the bracken fern and campion-leaves : their 

 eggs are very difficult to distinguish except one sees the bird leave the 

 nest. On their haunts being approached they leave the nest, and 

 sitting on the vocks watch whether they are observed. They are 

 more shy than the rock-birds, as their nests are placed in more 

 exposed situations. Their nests are difficult to find; they are 

 generally made at the foot of a rock or stone, in a slight depression 

 in the ground, and lined with leaves and dry grass, and generally 

 contain three eggs of a stone-brown, speckled and blotched with 

 darker brown. The young when first hatched are very like those of 

 the kittiwake, only considerably larger. When the young are hatched 

 the parent gulls are more daring. On approaching a nest with two 

 young gulls in it, I handled one rather roughly, so as to make it 

 Squeak, on which the old gull soared to a great height and dashed 

 down close to my head, rising again in a graceful curve, and swooping 



