CHAPTER XXIII 



THE BIRDS OF ST KILDA, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO 

 THE MIGRATORY VISITORS 



As a necessary preliminary to my proposed investiga- 

 tions, I made an examination of the somewhat extensive 

 literature devoted to St Kilda, the object of this 

 research being to ascertain what was already known 

 regarding its birds. Such of this historical matter as 

 bears upon their migrations has been incorporated under 

 the few species to which it relates. In addition, it has 

 been thought desirable to include within the scope of 

 this contribution a concise historical account of all the 

 species, both natives and visitants, which have been 

 known to occur in the St Kilda group down to the end 

 of the year 1911. 



A list of the various works which have contributed 

 more or less to our knowledge of the avifauna of the 

 archipelago will be found enumerated, in their chrono- 

 logical sequence, in the Bibliography which forms the 

 concluding portion of this Chapter. A number of other 

 books, it is true, have been published on St Kilda, and 

 contain references to its birds. Some of these, such as 

 Buchanan (1793) and Macdonald (1841) have obviously 

 borrowed all their references relating to the ornithology of 

 the island from previous writers, while other authors have 

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