232 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



* 



of the Carnarvonshire mainland, between Pwllheli and Aberdaron. Crossing St. 

 George's Channel, we find that the Manx Shearwater breeds on Lambay, the 

 Skelligs, Rathlin, and other islets. The Manx Shearwater is not known to 

 possess any breeding stations upon the East coast of Great Britain, but Orkney 

 and Shetland, St. Kilda, Rum, Eigg, Skye, the Treshnish Isles and a few other 

 islands of the Inner Hebrides can boast of nesting colonies. On the West coast 

 of Scotland it is known by the Gaelic name of " Fachach," which is exchanged 

 in Orkney and Shetland for the Norwegian name of " Lyre," by which it is also 

 known in the Faeroes, though the fowlers of the latter islands usually employ the 

 term " Skrapur " to denote the Manx Shearwater. 



My personal enquiries into the nesting habits of the Manx Shearwater were 

 chiefly carried out in the Island of Eigg, which has long afforded shelter to this 

 interesting bird. Perhaps the greatest number of pairs of Shearwaters make 

 their burrows in a grassy shelf of the precipices upon the west side of the island, 

 which formerly supplied an eyrie to the Sea Eagle (Haluztus albicilla) ; the cliffs 

 here rise to a height of several hundred feet, and the Shearwater nursery could 

 not be reached by the most experienced cliff-climber without a strong rope. The 

 burrows which I have opened were situated on the grassy slopes above the cliffs 

 on the North-east side of the island. Saxby states that the burrows of the 

 Shearwater which breed in Shetland vary from eighteen inches to two feet in 

 length ; but this probably depends on the character of the soil. 



Mr. W. Evans observes that the burrows of the Shearwater which he 

 examined in Eigg were from four to five feet in length. The burrows that I 

 examined could be probed to their extremity by my arm, and generally ran from 

 right to left. The nest-burrows contained fibres and the stems of grasses, 

 evidently gathered near the entrance. A single white egg is deposited near the 

 extremity of the burrow. On one occasion I found two eggs in one nest-hole, 

 but these had probably been laid by two different Shearwaters. Both sexes take 

 part in the duties of incubation, as I ascertained by actual dissection. The eggs 

 are laid from the end of May to the middle of June, and are usually far 

 advanced in incubation by the end of the latter month, though I have found 

 fresh eggs and young birds on the same day. The young generally hatch out 

 about the end of the first week in July, and leave the nest-burrow during the 

 latter half of August. During the breeding season the Manx Shearwater spends 

 the hours of daylight either on the open sea or resting in its burrow, or cairn, 

 among the high rocks. Possibly the Hebridean Shearwaters may be more 

 diurnal in their habits than the birds which nest further south. At all events 

 they are perfectly at home on the sea on any breezy day, and may be seen at 



