THE BIBDS OF S C ILLY. 345 



The Skuas have to some extent been overlooked. One Sep- 

 tember day in 1895 Dorrien- Smith fed a Pomatorhine Skua and 

 four Great Shearwaters with bait within two or three feet of the 

 boat on the Powll bank. Jenkinson saw a Kichardson's Skua 

 close over his head on Guthers in June, 1852, and one was shot 

 at St. Mary's on Christmas Day, 1901. The Razorbill breeds in 

 extraordinary numbers, especially on the Western Islands, and 

 those to the north and west of Bryher. On the eastern half of 

 Scilly Rock forty-one eggs were found on May 20th, 1903, in less 

 than half an hour. The Common Guillemot was never so abun- 

 dant as the Razorbill, but formerly nested in great profusion. Of 

 late years its numbers have been sadly diminished. On Scilly 

 Rock, in 1903, only a single egg was found, and that broken. 

 On Gorregan, one of its recent strongholds, only three eggs were 

 discovered, while on Mincarlo, where King says there were nine 

 or ten nests in 1900, no trace of it could be found. It still 

 breeds in small numbers on Menavawr, and may do so on Han- 

 jague, but it is nowhere prominent. A Little Auk was found 

 dead on St. Agnes about mid-winter, 1900. As a species it has 

 probably been overlooked. The Puffin breeds in thousands on 

 Annett alongside the Manx Shearwater. A considerable portion 

 of the island is so riddled with the burrows of these two birds that 

 in walking across one sinks to the knee every two or three steps 

 through the caving in of the roofs. On Scilly and on Menavawr 

 the Puffin lays its egg on the bare rock. It also breeds on Rose- 

 vear, Meledgan, Mincarlo, Castle Bryher, Round Island, Innis- 

 vouls, Menewethan, and Great Ganinnick. 



The Great Northern Diver may be seen in immature plumage, 

 both singly and in small flocks, during the autumn and winter, and 

 occasionally in the late spring. During the winter of 1901-2 it 

 was quite common in flocks of six to ten. On May 20th, 1903, a 

 solitary bird was seen at the south end of St. Helen's Pool. The 

 Red-throated Diver is said, in Rodd's ' Birds of Cornwall ' (p. 303), 

 to occur at Scilly in autumn and winter, but the only specimen 

 that can be traced is the one shot by David Smith in the spring 

 of 1894. It may, however, have been overlooked. The Black- 

 throated Diver has not yet been obtained, though it was probably 

 seen by C. J. King in January, 1904. The Sclavonian Grebe is 

 an autumn and winter casual chiefly on Tresco, and by no means 



