44- AND U. CANDLER ON BIRD-LIFE OF SKELLIG ROCKS. 
of beehive cells, which latter exist perfect and entire at the 
present day. The whole of the buildings are enclosed in a walled 
space, about one hundred and eighty feet long by eighty to one 
hundred feet broad, the outer wall rising from the very verge 
of the precipice. In such a place the monks must have led a 
life of chronic privation and hardship. It has been conjectured 
that they were fishermen, for to this day the island is a great 
resort of fish, and at one time wo saw the water discoloured by a 
shoal of bream. From the high ground above the monastery we 
enjoyed a wonderful view of many miles of the Irish coast, with 
all its outlying rocks and islands; to the north, the Great Blasket, 
Inishnabro, Inishvickillane, and the Tearaght ; to the south-east, 
Scarriff, a lofty and rugged island at the entrance of the Kemnare 
Fiver, which we had visited two days previously ; and, still further 
south, the chain of islands known as the Durseys, terminating 
with the Bull ltock. 
From its nest in a hole of the wall of one of the “ clochauns,” 
the lightkeeper’s boy, who, though only nine years old, is a good 
observer and bold climber, disturbed a Wheatear. We ascertained 
certainly that six species of land birds breed on the Great Skellig ; 
viz., the Peregrine, Hooded Crow, Chough, Wheatear, Meadow 
Pipit, and Wren; and to this list may probably be added the Bock 
Pipit, though we did not clearly identify this bird. It is common, 
however, on Puffin Island, close to the mainland. In 1885, too, 
a pair of Oystercatchers bred on the rock, and laid three 
clutches of eggs. We found, also, the following species of sea 
birds nesting on the island : — Kittiwake, Guillemot, Bazorbill, 
Puffin, Manx Shearwater, and Stormy Petrel. This list is probably 
not exhaustive; for an egg, which he believed to bo that of the 
Fork-tailed Petrel, was sent to Mr. B. J. Ussher in 1887 from 
the Tearaght Bock, and, in the following year, a similar egg was 
received by him from the Great Skellig. 
The Manx Shearwater breeds upon a turfy rock-strewn slope 
above the lower lighthouse. To reach their nests is a matter of 
great difficulty, as the burrows twist about at sharp angles between 
and under the great rocks embedded in the soil. One of our lads, 
however, who worked very perseveringly, succeeded in digging out 
two eggs. At the time of our visit the Stormy Petrels had not 
begun to lay. Later on, Mr. Walslie told us we should have heard 
