MR. J. H. GURNEY, JUN., ON THE ISLES OF 8CILLY. 453 
eggs. The young ones were very noisy, which atti’acted our 
attention as soon as we landed. Their large seaweed nests 
were all out of sight, hidden away in the clefts of the rocks, but 
this was, I imagine, not so much for concealment as for protection 
from wind. 
No Cormorants nest on Inisvoul.s, and, as far as our experience 
went, they are much less common on the Scillies than the Shag. 
Mr. Smart says “ the Cormorant is the earliest sea-bird of all in 
commencing breeding,” and that he had taken eggs “ slightly 
incubated on March 14th” (/.c. p. 76); perhaps, therefore, they 
are earlier than the Shag. On May 30th Mr. Bidwell found 
young of both nearly ready to lly (l.c. pp. 206, 207), and by the 
same date those I found would have been (piite as forward. The 
Cormorant is a greedy destroyer of fish : Shakespeare speaks 
of the 
“ Iu.satiate Cormorant,” 
and Chaucer of 
“ The liotc Cormorant full of gluttonie.” 
Yet, for all that, one is sorry to liear that !Mr. Smart thought it 
necessary, in the interests of the fishermen, to shoot so many. 
We found a fairly good supply of other sea-birds’ nests, but 
there was too much wind to visit the outer islands, and it was 
disheartening to see over one hundred Gulls’ nests robbed on 
!Menowethan, where Mr. Bidwell had found them breeding in 
peace. The Gulls eat the corn (of which there is none too much 
on the islands), as testified by their ejected pellets, a practice which 
will bring them into disfavour. I saw it some time ago stated in 
the ‘Field’ that Gulls never eat corn, but that they do so in 
Scilly is an undoubted fact, and in the Orkney Islands too, as 
1 can bear witness from the infallible test of dissection. 
Puffins, or “ Johnny Popes,” as they are called, are very abundant 
on Scilly. Guillemots, on the other hand, are comparatively rare. 
INfy brother-in law and I found several Oystercatchers’ nests, and 
Avere surprised to see how high up on the rocks they were. It is 
said that in Lancfishire they sometimes lay four eggs ; but we did 
not find more than three. The Turnstone is extremely common, 
but never nests here. The Curlew is common, and nowhere 
are there tamer Purple Sandpipers than on the isles of the 
