216 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



were harried by egg-robbers ; when the buildings were com- 

 pleted they gradually returned to the island, receiving encourage- 

 ment and protection from the keepers, and there they continued 

 to nest until recently. In an article in ' Blackwood's Magazine' 

 for 1831, which, though unsigned, appears to have been written 

 by Bishop Stanley, mention is made of a heronry on the rocks 

 opposite the Stack ; no Herons nest here now. 



The Kittiwake, so far as we know, does not nest on the cliffs 

 of Holy Island, nor, indeed, anywhere on the western or south- 

 western coasts of Anglesea. We have not seen the Lesser Black- 

 backed Gull on this coast in spring, but have met with it near 

 Holyhead in October. An adult Greater Black-backed Gull was 

 flying over the sea near the South Stack, and we saw an imma- 

 ture bird consorting with some Herring-Gulls on one of the 

 reservoirs on Holyhead Mountain, but the species does not 

 appear to nest in the immediate vicinity of Holyhead. Guille- 

 mots and Razorbills breed in large numbers on the cliffs near 

 the South Stack ; the ledges occupied by the Guillemots conform 

 with the curiously contorted strata of the rock. An excellent 

 view of the long lines of birds, undulating with the whitewashed 

 ledges, may be obtained from the zigzag stairway which leads 

 down to the Stack from the cliffs above. On May 30th the 

 birds were standing or lying prone upon the ledges in hundreds, 

 but egg-laying did not seem to have begun, for we could see no 

 eggs. Many Razorbills were brooding in holes and crevices, and 

 the water at the foot of the cliffs was thronged with birds of both 

 species, while others constantly passed to and from the ledges. 

 Puffins were on the water in some numbers, but they had not 

 then taken possession of the grassy slopes where they nest. On 

 May 15th, 1898, Mr. Cummings saw a few Puffins on the grass 

 beside the stairway, and on July 17th, 1902, we saw many on 

 the ledges, and one sitting at the mouth of its hole on the Stack 

 itself ; one of the lighthouse-keepers told us that few now nest 

 on the Stack. Some of the birds occupied holes on the grassy 

 slope within a few feet of the stairway wall, where there are 

 many rabbit-holes ; but others had their tunnels on grassy 

 ledges cut off by perpendicular cliffs. Rabbits could not reach 

 these ledges, so that the birds must have excavated the holes 

 themselves, which, judging by the honeycombed condition of 



