president's address. 275 



was somewhat hurried, and being in a large yacht, I only- 

 landed on a few of the Islands. On the Pinnacle or Staples 

 Island I observed about the usual number of the Lesser 

 Black-backed and Herring Gulls, but there were very few 

 nests with the full number of eggs. I understood the eggs 

 had been collected two or three different times, and that one 

 of the objects of the Association was to decrease the Lesser 

 Black-backed Gulls. It may be the Lesser Black-backed 

 Gull is fully as numerous as it ought to be within this limited 

 area; yet at the same time the reduction of its numbers is most 

 likely to exterminate the Herring Gulls, which during my time 

 always have been limited to a very few pairs. The watchers 

 who take these eggs will tell you that they can distinguish 

 which are the eggs of the Lesser Black-backed Gull and 

 which are the eggs of the Herring Gull, but it is all nonsense. 

 No skilled ornithologist can safely distinguish these eggs 

 unless the bird be watched from the nest, or unless they are 

 found in a locality where only Lesser Black-backed Gulls or 

 Herring Gulls nest. The Rock Pipit I was told is now a very 

 scarce bird on these Islands, and few nests have been seen. 

 I enquired too about the Shags, and I was informed that this 

 year two pairs of birds had visited the Islands, but I could 

 not ascertain that they nested. On the Knoxes Arctic Terns 

 were breaking their shells; but the eggs of the Sandwich 

 Terns (earlier nesting birds) appeared for the most part to be 

 freshly laid. The watchers assured me that no eggs had 

 been taken ; but in this they no doubt were mistaken, as the 

 full number of eggs ought to have been found in each nest 

 about the 17th of May. 



The following note on the nesting of the House Martin 

 may be of some little interest. The first nest built in the 

 corner of a bedroom window at Roxbrough House, Wark- 

 worth, was unintentionally destroyed by a servant opening 

 the window. The birds recommenced building on Thursday, 

 the 24th of July, and they finished on Saturday, the 2nd of 

 August, the second nest being in exactly the same place as 

 that occupied by the first. 



