C. AND n. CANDLER OX WRD-LIFE OF SKELLIG ROCKS. 43 
Great Skellig, the higher light on the latter island has been 
extinguished, and the buildings dismantled and abandoned. The 
place had a deserted appearance ; and in a small outhouse com- 
municating with the sea, and built on the verge of the cliff, a Puffin 
had laid her egg. 
Leaving the old lighthouse, we worked our way round to the 
small saddle of comparatively level ground, on either side of 
which the island rises in two rugged and precipitous cones ; the 
westernmost terminating in a magnificent pinnacle of rock, known 
as “ The Spit,” and forming the highest point of the island. 
Below “The Spit” a pair of Peregrines had their eyrie, and for some 
time wo watched the birds sweeping round in wide circles far 
overhead. The light-keeper has seen the Falcons strike down the 
Puffins, upon which they appear chiefly to feed, though rabbits are 
common enough on the island. For the last two years lie has 
reached the nest, with the help of a rope, and taken the eggs ; the 
market value of which, unhappily for the future of a rare and 
beautiful species, is considerable. Last spring, however, we hear 
that a second set of eggs was hatched. In the same mass of rock 
a single pair of Choughs Avero nesting, the birds flying at a less 
elevation than the Peregrines, and occasionally settling on the 
crags, and showing clearly their red bills and legs. They have 
taken up a position which is protected by overhanging rocks, and 
which appeal's to be inaccessible, unless, perhaps, to the keeper of 
the Tearaght Light, of whoso exploits wo heard much, aiid who 
has the reputation of being the most daring climber on all the 
Irish coast. On the eastern cliffs of the island a pair of 
Hooded Crows have bred for some years, but we did not see 
the birds. The Meadow Pipit, which is resident on the island, 
we frequently met with ; and we were surprised to hear upon that 
barren rook, the shrill and familiar song of the Wren, another 
constant resident. 
It would bo quite beyond the scope of this paper to do more 
than allude to the very remarkable monastic ruins, which give 
so strong a human interest to the Great Skellig. Like the famous 
island mounts of Cornwall and Normandy, the rock was, in old 
days, dedicated to the Archangel, and known as Scelig Michil. 
It was inhabited by a colony of Celtic monks, who built, of 
uncemented stone, a church, two small oratories, and a group 
