98 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



tected. Mr. W. A. Nicholson, naturalist editor of 

 The Shooting Times, and intimately acquainted 

 with the district, accordingly wrote to the Royal 

 Society for the Protection of Birds, which he 

 knew to be already interesting itself in the 

 subject, to urge the great need for further pro- 

 tective measures. The lessee of the Rock, 

 who had put out warning notices in vain, 

 strongly backed Mr. Nicholson's protest and 

 appeal ; and the Society communicated with 

 the Haddington County Council, where it is 

 fortunate in having the support of the Earl of 

 Haddington, well known as a friend and student 

 of bird-life. The Order issued July 7th, 1905, 

 protecting the wild birds of all the islets in the 

 Firth of Forth until the 1st of November in 

 each year will, it is honed, be cordially approved 

 by ornithologists. The vast Gannet colony may 

 now be considered safe from destruction, and 

 the Peregrine may perhaps return to his former 

 eyries, 



The Bass Rock, like Lundy (the one English 

 home of the Gannet) is a place with a history, 

 less familiar to southerners than to the Scots. 

 A precipitous mass of greenstone, about a mile 

 in circumference, and tunnelled by a huge 

 cavern, it was the refuge of James I. of Scot- 

 land from his English enemies ; in the seven- 

 teenth century it was the hiding-place of the 

 Church of Scotland Registers ; a little later it 

 came into English hands, and was a prison of 

 the Covenanters ; later still, seized by the 

 Jacobites, it formed the last stronghold of the 

 Stuart cause. 



In Wales, as in England, there is one soli- 

 tary settlement of Gannets ; but their historic 

 nesting-ground on Grassholm Island has lately 

 been threatened by the cry that the birds are 

 destructive to the fish. There are stated to be 

 not more than 300 pairs of birds, who are there 

 only in the nesting-time, and the numbers do 

 not increase, as a pair rear only one young bird 

 a year, and the herring-gulls account for a good 

 many of these. It would seem, therefore, that 

 the consumption of fish can hardly be of such 

 serious moment to the fisheries as to warrant an 

 attack on the interesting bird colony : and it is 

 satisfactory to learn that Grassholm has been 



leased by a member of the Cardiff Naturalists' 

 Society with the object of protecting the birds. 



At Lundy, off the Devonshire coast, the work 

 of the Watcher has not resulted as yet in the 

 Gannets resuming nesting, but it is believed 

 that good has been done in the protection of 

 other species. 



A graphic picture of yet another and a wilder 

 home of the Gannet is contained in the new 

 American bird book, " Wild Wings." Far out in 

 the very midst of the Gulf of St. Lawrence — 

 in situation somewhat to the Magdalen Isles 

 what St. Kilda is to the Shetlands — the Bird 

 Rock calls for a stout heart and a strong boat 

 if its fastness is to be conquered. But the wild 

 wings and the nesting-homes of ten thousand 

 gannets, kittiwakes, murres, auks, and puffins 

 reward the naturalist visitor for sundry 'scapes. 

 "It is splendid," says the writer of the book, 

 "that the fine colony is doing so well. The 

 keeper has orders from the British Government 

 to prevent all depredations upon the birds. 

 Yet he ought to have more done for him — a 

 telephone or telegraph to the Magdalens, and 

 more calls of the Government^ supply boat." 

 (The island is liable to be gripped in ice for six 

 months of the year, and made inaccessible, 

 and human visitors are at all times an event.) 

 " Left as he is, he must depend largely upon 

 casual vessels, and he can hardly afford to 

 prevent the visitors from egging and shooting, 

 lest they, in retaliation, forego their favours." 

 Under the care of Keeper Peter Bourque, how- 

 ever, the birds of Bird Rock are said to be on 

 the whole increasing. 



The Gannet, one of the largest of British sea-fowl, 

 being thirty-four inches in length, is not a member 

 of the Goose tribe, but a connecting link between 

 the Cormorant and Pelican. Its scientific name, 

 Sula bassana, is derived from the Bass Rock, but 

 it has several other nesting colonies on the west of 

 Scotland and on the Irish coast. The nest is made 

 of seaweed and grass, and the one egg is pale blue, 

 coated with chalky white. The birds when sitting 

 are very tame, even allowing themselves to be 

 stroked, with only a protesting croak. In colour 

 the adult birds are pure white, with buff head and 

 neck and black wing-primaries. 



