48 C. AND H. CANDLER ON BIRD-LIFE OF SKELLIG ROCKS. 
thickness of the nest-wall was about six or eight inches. For three 
inches downwards the materials were dry and often fresh and green, 
hut the substratum was always a dark, sodden, and fermenting mass. 
The nests were all placed upon level, or but slightly inclined, 
surfaces ; and we saw a number of birds sitting on the summit of 
a table-topped stack isolated from the main island. When 
we halted on the highest point of the station, the Gannets of the 
lower terraces had settled on their nests again, and the sight 
in the clear sunshine of the sitting birds beneath us, and the many 
hundreds in the air around, was something not soon to be forgotten. 
On the southern side of the island we found a few young birds, 
just hatched and helpless, of a dark slate in colour. Among the 
nests were many disgorged Mackerel ; some fresh, some partially 
digested, and all without heads. We saw no other fish, nor could 
we find traces of food of any other kind. A prodigious number 
of fish must be consumed by the Gannets in the course of a single 
season, for the birds remain about the island from February till 
late in October. 
On the rough and broken brow of the cliffs a number of 
Guillemots and Razorbills were breeding, and we found their eggs 
in close proximity to the nests of the Gannets. Leaving this 
locality we made our way towards the centre of the island, still 
keeping along the southern side. We found, presently, that we 
had invaded the territories of a large colony of Gulls, which 
do not mingle with the Gannets. The Herring Gull was the most 
numerous species, and we found several nests. The Lesser Black- 
backed Gull was present in smaller numbers. We noted some 
six or eight pairs of the Great Black-backed Gull in the same colony, 
and found as many nests. These were placed generally in lofty 
positions on the summit of some pillar or wedge-shaped mass of 
rock, separated by a fissure from the face of the cliff. We had with 
us a lad named -Terry Trant (a son of the old boatman), a good cliff 
climber, and familiar with the island and its birds. A pair of 
Peregines were reported to be breeding in a pile of rocks to the 
west of the island, but Jerry was unsuccessful in a long search 
for their eyrie. 
The descent of the cliffs was no easy matter. Our lads had filled 
two or three baskets and pails with eggs, and as the carriage of 
these added to the difficulty of the climb, it was with a feeling 
