468 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



BIRDS OBSERVED ON THE CALF OF MAN. 

 By F. S. Graves and P. Ralfe. 



The following notes were made during a four days' stay on 

 the Calf of Man (May 22nd-25th, 1901). This islet {cf. Zool. 

 1894, p. 161) is separated from the Isle of Man by a strait 

 500 yards wide, and is 616 acres in extent, rising at its western 

 side to 421 ft. in height. The whole circuit is rocky, but the 

 highest clitfs are on the west, which is wholly precipitous. The 

 north-east point, Kione Rouayr, has also good cliffs ; the southern 

 part consists of three promontories, comparatively low, but 

 with steep sides, and nearly flat tops. Off the easternmost of 

 these is the Burrow, a fine detached mass of rock pierced by a 

 cavern ; and on the west, underneath the two lighthouses (now 

 disused for their original purpose), a double pyramid, called 

 the Stack, separated by a narrow passage whose walls are sheer 

 precipices. From the southern coast, towards the one farm- 

 house, which stands well inland, extends a little ravine called 

 " the Glen," which has a tiny stream, and is full of profuse and 

 beautiful vegetation. Here were noticed most of the small 

 migrants mentioned below. There is some cultivated ground, 

 mostly near the farmhouse, behind which are also a few trees : 

 but the greater part of the islet is covered with heather, bracken 

 (dead at the time of our visit), and coarse grass. There was in 

 many places an abundance of beautiful flowering hyacinths, and in 

 others primroses richly bloomed, or the ground was covered with 

 sheets of ground-ivy, filling the air with scent. Damp places 

 along the cliffs were white with masses of the flowers of 

 Cochlearia. 



While on former occasions our knowledge of the Calf had 

 been entirely obtained from the sea, we were now for the first 

 three days confined to the land ; but on the fourth rowed com- 

 pletely round the islet. 



