ClafsIL G AN NET. 48 1 



Orkneys ; the Skelig ifies, off the coafts of Kerry, Ire- 

 land* and the Bafs ijle, in the firth of Edinburgh: the 

 multitudes that inhabite thefe places are prodigious. 

 Dr. Harvey's elegant account of the latter, will ferve 

 to give fome idea of the numbers of thefe, and of the 

 other birds that annually migrate to that little (pot. 



" There is a fmall ifland called by the Scotch Bafs 

 <( ifland, not more than a mile in circumference ; the fur - 

 *' face is almoji wholly covered during the months of Ma/ 

 <e and June with nefts, eggs? and young birds-, fo that 

 "" it is fcarccly poffible to walk zvithout treading on them: 

 " and the flocks of birds in flight, are fo 'prodigious as to 

 <i darken the air like clouds -, and their noife is fuch that 

 tc you cannot without difficulty hear your next neighbour's 

 €i voice. If you look down upon the fea, from the top of 

 " the precipice, you will fee it on every fide covered with 

 * i infinite numbers of birds of different kinds, fwimming 

 % ' and hunting for their prey : if in failing round the ifland 

 " you furvey the hanging cliff's, you may fee in every cragg 

 " or fiffure of the broken rocks, innumerable birds of va- 

 *' rious forts and fixes, more than the jlars of heaven whex 

 " viewed in aferene night : if from afar you fee the dif- 

 • 4 t ant flocks, either flying to or from the ifland, you would 

 *■- imagine them to be a vafi fwarm of bees -j% 



* This information we owe to that worthy prelate, the late Dr. 

 Pocock, Bifnop of Meath ; who had vifired the Skeligs. Mr. Smilfj* 

 in hishiftories, of Cork and Kerry, confounds this bird with the Gull 

 defcribed by Mr. Wilhughby ; from whom he has evidently bor- 

 rowed the whole defcription. 



f Eft inhda paw a, Scoti Bajfe nomhiavt, head amplins milk 

 t pa£uum circuitu amplitudo ejus clauditur* Hujtts iufula: fuperficiet, 

 menfibus Maio rjf junio nidis o<vis pullifque prqpemcdum tot a ihffrata e/? t 

 >adeo ut <vix, pr<& eomm copia pedemlibe^e poncre ticsat : tantaauej 

 'volantium turba, ut nubium inftar,f^e>n cmb-.mque c.»fcrar.t : titttfi 

 ■rotifer antium ■clangor &J2refztus, ut prop) alhquenUs <vix avctias. Si 



Xi h j. 



