C. AND H. CANDLER ON BIRD-LIFE OF SKELLIG ROCKS. 49 
of some relief that we found ourselves once more safely in the 
boat. In a fissure, near the base of the cliff, we chanced upon 
a Shag’s nest, the only one we saw on the island. AVant of time, 
however, made our survey of the rock very cursory and incomplete. 
The wind falling we had to row nearly all the way back to Port 
Magee, which we reached in the dusk of a lovely May evening. 
The recent history of the Gannets’ station at the Skelligs we 
believe to be shortly as follows : — - 
There is some doubt as to whether the bird, at any time, nested 
on the greater island, the balance of evidence being, perhaps, 
against the supposition. If, however, any Gannets did breed there 
previous to 182G, they were driven away by the erection of the 
Lighthouse in that year. The Little Skellig, on the other hand, 
has been known as a breeding station for very many years, and 
Smith in his ‘History of Kerry,’ published in 17GG, says: “Tis 
remarkable that the Gannet nestles nowhere else on the south coast 
of Ireland.” The colony was apparently for many years a very small 
one, for in 1880 the island was visited by Air. K. M. Barrington, 
who estimated tire number of birds then breeding there at less than 
thirty pairs. He was, however, prevented by a chasm in the rock 
from reaching their actual quarters.* 
Sixteen miles to the south of the Little Skellig lies the Bull 
Bock, which was tenanted by a colony of Gannets, certainly as 
early as 18G8, and possibly earlier. This was probably at first 
an offshoot from the older community on the Little Skellig, increas- 
ing afterwards at the expense of the latter station ; but we have 
not been able to ascertain definitely when the southern rock was 
first resorted to. In November, 1881, however, the lighthouse 
on the neighbouring Calf Bock was destroyed in a gale, and the 
Commissioners of Irish Lights decided soon afterwards to place 
a new lighthouse on the Bull. For this purpose blasting operations 
were commenced in the spring of 1884, and from that time the 
Gannets began to forsake their new quarters. Messrs. B. M. 
Barrington and B. J. Usslier visited the Bull Bock in the year 
last mentioned, soon after the commencement of the works, and 
found about two thousand pairs still breeding there, though the 
birds were much harassed by the noise and the falling stones. 
# “ Irish Breeding Stations of the Gannet.” By Messrs. R. M. Barrington 
and R. J. Ussher (Zool. vol. viii. p. 472, December, 1884). 
YOU V. 
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