T. H. nelson: a ramble on the FARNE islands. 12 1 



within the grasp of one hand. When the Eider leaves her nest of 

 her own accord, she conceals the eggs by pulUng the down over them, 

 but, as we had disturbed the birds, of course they had not had time 

 to make all secure, and therefore the eggs were fully exposed to view. 

 In the course of our rambles on the Brownsman, a flock of Terns 

 rose from a patch of grass on the south side, where we found a 

 number of nests within a small compass, though very few eggs were 

 to be seen ; probably the keeper had been round that morning, for 

 on the other islands we found plenty of Terns' nests with full clutches 

 of three eggs. Those breeding on the Brownsman were, so far as we 

 could determine, Sterna inacrura. A few pairs of Oystercatchers 

 {Hc^matopus ostralegus) were sitting on some of the outlying rocks, 

 and we heard others whistling in the vicinity, but, although we 

 searched diligently, no eggs were found on this island, and, in all 

 probability, the nests were on some of the smaller islets near the 

 Wawmses. 



Our next move was to the Wawmses, adjacent to the Brownsman. 

 The soil on these islands is of a similar character to that on the 

 Staples — soft spongy peat, honeycombed everywhere with the burrows 

 of the Puffins, which were here in thousands. They appeared to be 

 all around us — on the water, on the rocks, in the air, and in the 

 ground ; every now and again they would dart from the burrows 

 beneath our feet, flying off like bullets towards the sea, or sometimes, 

 not getting well on the wing, they would tumble about head-first in 

 a most ludicrous manner. Lesser Blackbacked Gulls, with a few 

 Herring Gulls, were also nesting here, and on our landing, they all 

 rose in the air, flying round our heads, laughing and screaming in 

 quite a deafening style. The scene of bustle and animation on these 

 islands is difficult to describe ; what with the Puffins darting about 

 in all directions and the great Gulls wheeling and shrieking around 

 us, we were glad to sit down on the rocks for a while to allow the 

 excited creatures time to calm down a little. 



The North and South Wawmses are connected by a narrow reef 

 of rocks, bare at low-water, and across this we walked from one 

 island to the other, where we found the same species of birds breed- 

 ing. Puffins innumerable, with a few Gulls' nests amongst the crevices 

 of the rocks. The eggs of the Puffins, white in a natural state, were 

 dyed a deep chocolate colour from the nature of the peaty soil at the 

 bottom of the burrows. One egg only is laid by each bird, and, 

 although sometimes we found two together, there can be no doubt 

 that they had been laid by different birds. 



It was now getting late, and we decided to defer visiting the other 

 islands until another opportunity; so, embarking in our good coble, 



April 1887. 



