president's address. 179 



ground colour and markings, and some of them were hatching. 

 The eggs of the Sandwich Tern were within the surrounding 

 belt of nests of the smaller birds, and these presented some 

 features of interest. In one "nest" — if the bare sand and 

 shingle may be so called — an almost purely white egg lay 

 alongside one deeply blotched with rich brown. A few birds 

 had just been hatched, but the accidental breakage of an egg 

 indicated that some of the eggs must have been laid very late 

 in the year, probably as a result of the destruction of the first 

 lots. These birds go to nest earlier than the Arctic or 

 Common Terns. It appeared to me there were not so many 

 nests as in former years, but on another part of the Island 

 which we did not visit additional birds were nesting, though 

 we were told they were not so numerous as the colony we saw. 

 Five or six nests of the Eider and Oyster Catcher were seen. 

 One set of the eggs of the Oyster Catcher were about hatching. 

 The Duck left her eggs, but walked about within a few yards, 

 and showed no inclination to take flight. Marvellous tales 

 are told of the numbers of eggs laid in nests of the Eider — 

 one man saying he had seen no less than nineteen. I am 

 afraid I can scarcely accept these accounts, for I have only 

 once seen as many as seven. Five generally is the number, 

 and frequently only four. The "nests " of the Oyster Catchers 

 contained one, two, and three eggs. We were told two or 

 three pairs of the Roseate Tern were nesting on this Island, 

 but we did not see the birds or any eggs, and I think I can 

 distinguish the eggs from those of either the Arctic or Common 

 Terns. 



To others of the party the sea beach and pieces of rock on 

 the Island presented features of geological interest. 



We next sailed for the Staple or Pinnacle Island, which, 

 with a good breeze, we quickly reached. Rain was falling, 

 and a haze obscured Bamburgh and Holy Island. Here, 

 again, under the partially formed peat, the boulder clay was 

 observed. A few Puffins were drawn from their burrows, and 

 their eggs examined. The birds, on being released, were quite 

 unable to rise from the level ground, and had to reach the 



