86 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Fulmars flying about the Hermaness range, and as it was 

 then early in June, I thought it probable that they might 

 be breeding there, though I was not able at that time to 

 verify the supposition. The birds were very few in 

 number, but I only visited at that time a portion of the 

 cliff range where the birds have now taken up their abode, 

 so that there might have been more than appeared at first 

 sight. There is no doubt, however, that since that date 

 the bird has increased very considerably, and there is now 

 a large and flourishing colony scattered along the range 

 of the Hermaness cliffs, and on the detached and semi- 

 detached stacks which project out from this wild, storm- 

 beaten coast line. Towards the end of May, 1899, I made 

 a careful inspection of this region, spending one day in 

 working the cliffs from the land side, and on the following 

 day exploring some of the stacks by boat. The sitting 

 birds were then scattered in suitable, and for the most 

 part decidedly inaccessible, situations along this range of 

 cliffs and the outstanding stacks for a distance of a quarter 

 of a mile or more, and numerous other birds were con- 

 stantly flying around. It was very difficult to estimate 

 their numbers accurately, some portions of the cliff being 

 entirely untenanted, and then one would come to spots 

 where several birds were sitting on ledges within a few 

 feet of each other. Probably 100 pair would be a con- 

 servative estimate for the number scattered about the 

 Hermaness district, and I did not visit the cliffs of 

 Saxaford on the opposite side of Barranrth, where, as I 

 have before stated, another fair-sized colony exists. The 

 sitting birds were seen in all situations on the face of the 

 cliff, and some were occupying turfy banks near the 

 bottom, but on the whole it seemed to me that the most 

 favoured nesting sites were ledges some 25 to 30 feet from 

 the top, especially in places where the cliff overhung 



