Mil, i:. MlLtWEM, ON TIIIC I^5LES OV SCII.LV. 
:»or. 
Shovt-toed Liivk, Ortolan, 8cop.s Owl, Woodchat, Little Linked 
Plover, Prowti Snipe, Piitl’-breasted Sandpiper, Surt' Scoter, and 
White- winged Plack Tern. 1 am sure you will agree with me, 
that it is indeed fortunate for the cause of Lritish Ornithology 
that the proprietor of these isles takes so great an interest in 
their avi-fauna. 
'I'he Karl of Gainshorough and ^fr. P. G. tlwatkin, who were 
staying at the Ahhey, had visited some of the isles, and as thej' had 
not hcen to the Eastern Islands, ^^r. Oorrien Smith proposed that 
we .should sail there in his yacht the following afternoon. ^ 
Early on Thursday morning the, “Wenonah” was moved from 
Hugh Town to Xcw Grimshy llarhour, a sheltered channel lying 
hetween the islands of Tresco and Ihyer. After breakfast we 
started, a party of si.\, in the yacht’s gig, for the Island of 
Samson, which we searched thoroughly ; hut it did not prove a rich 
hunting-ground, except to ilr. Graham’s son, who had the gooel 
fortune to find a nest of the liock Pipit, containing four egg.s 
of that bird and one of the Guckow; a nest of the Oystercatcher 
with three eggs, and a nest of the Wren, built in a fissure of a 
roek, with six eggs, being our only otlier linds. 
In the afternoon there was such a .sea running, that it would 
have been impossible to land, we therefore postponed to the follow- 
ing day our visit to the Eastern Isle.s, and the time was devoted 
to seeing the Abbey Ganlens, under the guidance of our host. 
Eriday brought more propitious weather, and we all embarked in 
the “ Scillonian.” As we sailed along, numbers of Terns were on 
the wing, the majority of them being the Common Tern : the 
only other species identified during our visit was the Sandwich 
'fern. Cormorants and Shags were in abundance, and the Le.sser 
and Great Black-backed Gull were always in sitrlit. 
O 
^lenewithau was the first island Ave touched, and four of our 
jiarty landed, to climb to its grass-covered summit, where Ave found 
several nests of the Great Black-backed Gull, all the eggs being 
very much incubated ; and in one instance, tAvo young Gulls 
in doAvn Avere caught. On the sides of the hill, and among the 
rocks, Avere many nests of the Lesser Black-backed Gull; but in 
every instance at some little distance from the summit, Avhich Avas 
claimed by the larger species, a bird which Avill admit of no 
encroachment on its domain. 
