•LG C. AND 11. CANDLER ON D1RD-LIFE OF SKELLIG ROCKS. 
The number of migratory birds visiting the Great Skellig is 
comparatively small, as the rock does not lie in any of the great 
lines of migration. It is, indeed, rare for any bird (except the 
Petrels and Shearwaters) to strike the glass of the lighthouse 
at night. The total number of species which have been observed 
by the liglitkeepcrs is, however, not inconsiderable, falling only 
a little short of sixty. We have appended to this paper a table, 
obtained by an analysis of the reports of the Migration Committee 
of the British Association for the five years 1882 — 1887, showing 
all the species noted during that period, with short particulars of 
the dates and manner of their occurrence. 
We left the Great Skellig about three o’clock, and pulled slowly 
across the mile of sea which separates the greater from the lesser 
island. The swell, if anything, had increased, and was breaking 
heavily along the northern side of the smaller rock where, in 
smooth water, a landing may be effected without difficulty ; and 
at a point, too, from which it is easy to reach the summit of the 
island. The outline of the Little Skellig, resulting from the sharp 
weathering of the rock — a sandstone with calcareous bands of the 
formation known as cornstone ? — is very striking. The island 
rises in a range of rugged pyramids with acutely serrated edges ; 
the loftiest cone reaching a height of four hundred and forty feet. 
The base of the island has an extent of about seventeen acres. 
The rock appeared, as we neared it, to be crowded with birds. 
Razorbills and Guillemots sat in regular and closely-ordered ranks 
along every crest and ledge of the western extension of the island. 
Our boatmen called them the “ Kerry Militia,” and their resemblance 
to bodies of men drawn up, rigid and motionless, in military rank 
is certainly not fanciful. For some distance we rowed along close 
under the cliffs, which, on the southern side of the island, rise sheer 
out of deep water. We passed some favourite haunts of the Seal, 
which, to judge from the place-names, Celtic'"' and English, of this 
coast must, at one time, have been very common in the district, 
where, indeed, it is still constantly seen. We observed none, 
however, on the present occasion. 
Upon a steep slope of rock, incrustcd with limpets and scored 
with small fissures, we lauded ; leaping from the boat as she rose 
* The old Irish word for a seal is ran, and there is, in Banlry Bay, an 
islet called Roancarrig, which wo take to be “the Rook of the Seals.” 
