164 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



rising from a deep clear sea, is probably the grandest in the Isle 

 of Man. Hitherto we had seen Guillemots and Razorbills, but 

 the more local Puffin, Fratercula arctica, now began to appear, 

 and we noticed the first nesting-place of these birds among the 

 rock debi'is on the eastern side of the Head. Both water and air 

 were now alive with birds; Puffins, Guillemots, and Razorbills 

 sped down from the rocks, and swam and dived around our boat, 

 while young Shags, Phalacrocorax cristatus, brown, ugly, and 

 stupid, sat ranged just above the water-mark. The number of 

 Shags, however, which we saw on this day was not very great. 

 A little to the west of " Spanish Head," a bit of broken ground 

 high up, is another breeding-place of the Puffin, where, though too 

 far off to be seen to advantage from the sea-level, we watched the 

 crowds of birds streaming to the water. From " Spanish Head" 

 we crossed the Sound towards " the Calf," which was a matter of 

 no difficulty, the tide being in our favour and the water smooth. 

 We kept southward at a little distance from the east coast of the 

 islet. Passing the " Kione Rouayrt," we observed the same crowd 

 of rock-birds, and noted the sharply-cut inlet called the " Ghaw 

 Yiarn," or Iron Creek. Before us now, with a strip of lower coast 

 extending towards it, was the southern horn of " the Calf," with 

 the perforated stack called the Burrow at its extremity. Just 

 opposite, the uncultivated land was richly cushioned with blooming 

 sea-pink, Statice armeria. Rounding the Burrow, and crossing 

 the mouth of a rocky inlet, we passed the " Caigher," another 

 projecting point, and rowed underneath the western coast of "the 

 Calf," the fine line of cliffs already spoken of. Here the Razor- 

 bills and Guillemots appeared again, and up on the cliff-top we 

 saw some birds flying, which were probably Choughs, Pyrrhocorax 

 graculus. These birds are still not uncommon on the opposite 

 mainland, and I have watched them walking on the turf near 

 " the Chasms," or perching on the craggy sides of an old stone 

 quarry near the shores of the Sound. Off this side of the Calf 

 is the " Stack," consisting really of two connected pieces of crag, 

 though when seen from the north side, where it is visible for a 

 great distance, it looks like a single pyramid, or even a ship 

 passing the end of the Calf. It is perhaps 100 feet in height. 

 Here we landed, and easily ascended the rock, but its landward 

 side is very precipitous, and as we climbed upwards, we scattered 

 numbers of rock-birds off the ledges. Young gulls, Larus argen- 



