BIRDS OF ANGLESEY AND CARNARVONSHIRE. 345 
side. To-day, too, at one place along the coast we have the 
pleasure of observing five Ravens in the air together, being 
a pair of old birds and their three young. ‘This pair, we are 
glad to say, successfully reared off a brood last year and the 
year before that to our knowledge, and long may they do so is 
our most sincere wish. 
On Whit-Monday, thanks to a friend who invites us to a 
yachting cruise, we are able to pay a visit to Puffin Island, off 
the eastern corner of Anglesey. When the yacht arrives within 
a couple of hundred yards of the island we board a small boat 
and are rowed across to it. As soon as we set foot upon the 
shore the Gulls begin to call out ‘‘yac, yac, yac.” Hvery 
step forward on the grassy top brings us upon nests, the 
majority of which belong to Herring-Gulls, and some to the 
Lesser Black-backed species. However, the eggs are so indis- 
tinguishable, that in order to ascertain which are which we have 
to hide ourselves and watch the Gulls settling down again, and 
then mark a few of them. A few years back the Lesser Black- 
backs were rather scarce on the island and generally confined 
to the south side of it, but to-day we see them rise up from all 
sides. The Lesser Black-backs resent our intrusion far more 
than the Herring-Gulls do, for frequently one of them swoops 
viciously at us, rising up again when within a yard or so 
of our heads. Flying about with the rest of the Gulls is a 
Greater Black-backed variety, it being at once conspicuous by 
its larger size, and we watch the movements of this noble- 
looking bird for some time in order to see whether it will settle 
on a nest, but this we fail to see. ‘The Kittiwake Gulls, Puffins, 
Guillemots, and Razorbills reside on the north side, and as we 
approach that point we observe a large number of the Puftfins 
on the slope near the edge vf the cliff. The Puffins are very 
tame, looking curiously at us, and allowing us to go within a 
couple of yards of them before they make a dash out to sea, 
with their quick-beating wings making a loud whirring noise. 
The ground where these nestle is tunnelled in all directions, and 
we often sink knee-deep through the turf and cause some of 
the sitting Puffins to scuttle out of their burrows. Most of the 
holes that we investigate contain the single egg, these being for 
the most part fresh, as they did not have the dirty appearance 
that they attain as incubation advances. At one part of the 
