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my brother Albany, we met with it breeding there, but in no great numbers. I was informed by 

 the late Mr. Joseph Watson, jun., and Mr. Isaac Clark, who visited the island in 1870, that there 

 was a colony of considerable size, and they saw great numbers of the birds swimming about in all 

 directions." On the coasts of Scotland it appears to be much more numerous than in England, 

 and is, Mr. Robert Gray writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 433), " perhaps the most abundant species 

 of sea-fowl to be met with in the west of Scotland, some of the breeding-places being literally 

 overstocked with it. Its haunts are numerously distributed from Barra Head to the Butt of 

 Lewis on the one hand, and from Cape Wrath to the Scaur Rocks, in the Bay of Luce, on the 

 other. Westwards of the Long Island it is found on the Hannan Islands, the Haskeir Rocks, 

 and St. Kilda, the last-mentioned locality being frequented by countless numbers during the 

 height of the breeding-season. In. the Minch, the chief breeding-place is on the Shiant Isles; 

 and considerable numbers also incubate on the Ascrib Islands and other rocky islets off the coast 

 of Skye. Another important station is at the Mull of Oe, in Islay ; but in point of interest it 

 falls greatly short of Ailsa Craig, which may be said to rank next to Mingalay, Berneray (Barra 

 Head), and St. Kilda as a crowded bird-hive." In Ireland it breeds, in suitable localities, all 

 round the coast, and is a common species. 



It is said not to be very numerous in Greenland ; and Holboll states that it does not breed 

 further south than 63° 30' N. lat. — which appears somewhat curious, if correct. Professor Newton 

 says that it is very common in Iceland, and breeds in numerous localities around the coast. At 

 the beginning of October they betake themselves to the open sea, returning to their nesting- 

 quarters at the beginning of May. Captain Feilden says that it is the most abundant of all the 

 rock-birds visiting the Fseroes, appearing, in mild seasons, about the end of March, but more 

 frequently during the first week in April. 



Mr. Collett informs me that in Norway it breeds in large colonies on various parts of the 

 coast, most numerously above the arctic circle. In Lofoten and on the coasts of Tromso and 

 Finmark the colonies are the largest ; and the number of individuals in some of them is enormous. 

 South of the arctic circle the colonies are more scattered, and are smaller ; but there are breeding- 

 places occupied by these birds at Stadt, in Bergen Stift, and on some of the islands off Stavanger, 

 in 59° N. lat. In the winter it is common all along the coast, and young birds are to be met 

 with up the southern fiords. Late in June all the breeding females have deposited their eggs ; 

 and in some of the colonies the young are hatched then. Nilsson says that Von Wright found 

 about a dozen pair breeding off Bohuslan, on the Waderoar; but up the Baltic it does not seem 

 to occur. Dr. Palmen says (Finl. Fogl. ii. p. 676) that Von Middendorff met with it on the 

 Ainowska Islands, west of Ribatschi, but no further ; Lilljeborg met with it numerous in July 

 1848 at Schuretskaja, but it is not known to breed in the White Sea. Fellman says that it 

 occasionally straggles to Utsjoki ; Grape records it once from the parish of Enontekis ; and a 

 young male was killed in January 1855 at Puumala, on the northern portion of the Saimen. 

 Mr. G. Gillett and Dr. Th. von Heuglin both met with it in Novaya Zemlya, where, the former 

 states, it is not very common ; and it is found in Spitzbergen, but is there also not very 

 numerous. It is here that the largest form is found ; and Professor Newton, basing his opinion 

 on an examination of examples obtained by him there, was led to believe in the specific difference 

 of the Spitzbergen bird. It is, he writes (Ibis, 1865, p. 523), " the least common of the Alcidse 



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