MU. J. II. GURNEV, JUN., OS THE IHEE.S OF SCILLV. 449 
not certain that they even once allude to it. Willughby, who 
visited the Land’s End with Itay, in 1G62, heard that it was found 
on Scilly, a statement repeated by Pennant and Selby ; but it was 
not until ^[itchell’s well-known narrative of the colony on Annet 
appeared in the first edition of Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds,’ that 
anything definite was known. This reticence was probably due to 
its peculiar habits. Botoner, after mentioning St. Mary’s, says : 
“ Insula Rascow [? Tresco] pertinet ahbuti Tavystock, continet in 
lonyitudine 3 miliaria, et in latitudine 3 miliaria, inculta, cum 
CMuiculis et avibus vocal is pophyns"* The reference here is, 
])robably, to the true Puffin, though it may be to the Shearwater ; 
but, apparently, the word “Puflin” is not in use among the 
natives now for either species. Botoner was no naturalist, and his 
references to birds are very scanty; in one place (p. 154), 
apparently referring to an island of the Scilly group, he couples 
Cormorants with Cats and Mice ! t 
Perhaps the most interesting bird at Scilly is the ^fanx 
Shearwater, and strange to .say, of the forty islands which bear 
herbage, it inhabits only one — the island of Annet. Annet is 
said to be the only island where there are no liats, which abound 
on most -of them. Possibly the odour of the Shearwaters is 
distasteful, for they could certainly swim across from St. Agnes. J 
There had been a terrible robbery on Annet, a few days before our 
visit, of Shearwaters or their eggs, or both, and the south end of 
the island was dug over in all directions. Xotwithstanding 
this, wo had no difficulty in finding the objects of our search ; 
indeed the ground was so honeycombed, that it was impossible in 
some places to avoid stepping on, and breaking into, their domiciles. 
^Ir. H. A. Macpherson, in a remarkably interesting paper, has 
fully discussed the question to what degree Shearwaters are 
nocturnal in the breeding season (Trans. Norfolk and Norwich 
Nat. Soc. vol. iv. p. 215), and I will only say that we observed one 
* Itiuerarium Willeliui Botouer, p. 08. 
t Many early notices of Cornish birds are quoted or referred to in 
Mr. Ilarting’s Introdiuitiou to the ‘ Birds of Cornwall.’ 
X The Rev. M. A. Mathew says there is a strong colony of Shearwaters on 
Skomer Island, Pembrokeshire, and no Rat<. But the happy conjunction 
does not seem to have been noticed elsewhere. It is said, though it is 
unlikely to be true, that they were e.xtirpated by Rats in Man. 
0 G 
VOL. IV. 
