410 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



he used to gather as many as fifteen dozen in a morning. These 

 were pickled, packed in small barrels, and sent into England, 

 where they commanded a ready sale ; but the practice had been 

 discontinued for about sixty years. According to the old man's 

 statement, it would appear that the young birds were taken 

 regularly for at least twenty years after the wreck of what he 

 called " the Rooshian barque," the particulars of which disaster 

 had often been related to him by his parents. 



The custom of farming the young Puffins is evidently an 

 ancient one ; it is alluded to by Edward Pugh (' Cambria De- 

 picta,' 1816). In his description of Puffin Island, he says: — "I 

 was a little surprised to find so desolate a place, extending three- 

 fourths of a mile, and literally half covered with those indolent 

 birds called puffins. . . . We walked to the extremity of the 

 island, the boatman frequently shoving his arm up to the shoulder 

 in the burrows, and bringing out the young puffins, to examine 

 whether they were ripe, or fit to take." The island was " farmed " 

 by the Bulkelys " to this man, and one or two others, who take 

 the young birds when not yet able to fly, pickle, and put them in 

 barrels of 12 inches long; then they are sold at about three or 

 four shillings per barrel, sent to different parts of England, and 

 are considered a great luxury." 



A few demonstrative Oystercatchers, and a pair of Lapwings 

 evidently had young on the island, and Rock-Pipits were nesting 

 in several places on the cliffs. The Sheld-Duck is usually 

 associated in one's mind with warrens, marshes, and coast sand- 

 hills, and we were rather surprised to flush a party of sixteen 

 adults from the top of the cliff, between 100 and 150 ft. above 

 the sea, and to find at this spot that the birds were nesting. In 

 one Rabbit-hole we found eight fresh eggs on a nest of light grey 

 down, within arm's reach, and pieces of down at the mouths 

 of other burrows showed that there were more nests in close 

 proximity. 



We saw a pair of Carrion- Crows, and on the Puffin ground 

 a Lesser Black-backed Gull repeatedly swooped at a young 

 Crow which cowered amongst the pink thrift. There is 

 hardly any cover for hedge-building birds, but Blackbirds, 

 Thrushes, and Hedge-Sparrows were feeding young in a small 

 patch of brambles, stunted elders, and thorns on the lee-side 



