5G MR. J. H. GURNEY, JUN., ON BIRDS OF THE FARNE ISLANDS. 
In autumn these curious birds shed the horny sheath of the 
beak ; and examples, killed in August, will be sometimes found 
to have the horny pleat at the base of the upper mandible loose, 
and eventually it drops off like a collar. 
In April, 18GG, I shot a young one off Bamborough. The 
presence of young Puffins of the preceding year in early spring — 
“Winter Puffins” as they have been termed — is not uncommon. 
In such birds the beak is less than half the full size, and has 
none of the resplendent colouring of an adult. 
Lesser Black-backed Gull. 
The Lesser Black -backed Gull abounds now, and probably 
always has been very common ; but w e saw no Greater Black- 
backs, and only one pair of Herring Gulls. By far the most 
nests were on Wide-Opcns. They prefer the rocks to the grass- 
covered portions of the island ; albeit they use grass liberally in 
making their nests, some of which were quite substantial structures, 
eight inches across measured from the outside. Three seems to 
be the maximum number of eggs; but many of the nests only 
contained one, or one young bird. The nestlings very soon leave 
the nest, and squat in the rocky crevices ; they have a thick 
covering of down, and begin to show feathers when they are 
about as big as a Jackdaw. They are able to see as soon as 
hatched, at which time they have pink mouths, dark brown eyes, 
slate-coloured legs, and black beaks, except the tips. 
The Gulls are destructive to all the other species which breed on 
the islands, and large numbers of their earlier eggs are allowed to 
be taken by the fishermen. Eighteen hundred were gathered by 
Mr. Barclay’s orders in 18S9, the gathering ceasing on May 24th. 
This has done no harm, but, on the contrary, great good, as the 
Gulls hatch off their later eggs, and there are abundance of them. 
Kittiwake. 
The Kittiwakes breed on tho precipitous sides of the three 
pinnacles and on the Staples Island, of which they are part ; 
but the eggs can only be reached with a rope, and, indeed, they 
are all hatched in July. Mr. T. II. .Nelson counted one hundred 
and seventeen nests on the Staples Island, of which fifty-five 
were on the pinnacles. He considers that they havo increased 
largely since 1881, when there were about sixty or seventy nests. 
