ANGLESEA BIRD-NOTES. 95 



gives rise to sudden squalls — we passed to seaward of Ynys 

 Badric with its colony of Herring-Gulls, whose breeding-place 

 we had invaded two days before. 



We had seen Guillemots, Bazorbills, Puffins, and Manx 

 Shearwaters, but only an occasional Arctic Tern until we left 

 Yn} T s Badric astern. In the seven miles which still separated 

 us from the Skerries the Terns became increasingly plentiful as 

 we drifted westward, and when we neared the islands we saw 

 that they were peopled by thousands of the birds. Terns flecked 

 every patch of green turf with white ; many were standing in 

 crowded groups on the rocks below high- water mark, whilst 

 others were fishing in the tide-race close inshore. This must be 

 one of the largest colonies of Arctic Terns in the British Islands. 

 The number of birds on the wing together when seen from a 

 point of vantage was extraordinary, and constituted a curious 

 and beautiful sight. The Common Tern does not occur here 

 except perhaps as an occasional straggler. 



The Skerries comprise three main islets, on the middle one 

 of which is the lighthouse, and a number of smaller stacks 

 accessible from the others at low water ; the whole group is 

 about a third of a mile in length. There is a good deal of turf, 

 honeycombed with Eabbit- holes, and in places a fair amount of 

 short grass — at one spot there is a large patch of sorrel — but the 

 greater part of the area is bare, or at best lichen-covered rock, 

 and there is but little of the scurvy-grass and Atriplex which 

 abound on most of the Anglesea stacks. 



The lightkeepers told us that there were not many Bats on 

 the islands, and that those were small black ones with long tails. 

 We were unable to procure one, but the description suggests 

 Mils rattus, and it is probable that a colony of Black Bats exists 

 here, the descendants of castaways from a wrecked ship. 



At the place where we landed two adult Kittiwakes were 

 standing on the rocks with a number of Terns, which seemed 

 quite indifferent to their presence. On one of the outer stacks 

 a small party of Herring-Gulls were resting, but the lightkeepers 

 assured us that the Terns will not tolerate these robbers near 

 their nesting-places. A few pairs of Oystercatchers breed on the 

 islands, but the Terns practically monopolise the place. We saw 

 neither Bock-Pipit nor Wheatear, though there was a solitary 



