630 MR. J. H. GURNEY ON BIRDS OF THE PEMBROKESHIRE ISLANDS. 
Shearwater, it is possible therefore that this species may breed 
there,* on which point farther evidence is desirable. 
The Rev. M. A. Mathew considers Skomer island to be the 
metropolis of Puffinus anglorum. In our short visit we had no 
means of judging of their numbers, for very few were seen at sea, 
and beyond disinterring a few with our hands, which could just be 
reached by a long arm, we did not molest them. They seemed 
very sleepy when thrown up, generally falling again at no great 
distance, though this is not from inability, for at night they fly as 
much over the island as over the sea, and the keeper and his wife 
find their incessant wailing very wearisome, as they pass and repass 
his cottage, which is the only house on the island. 
In one burrow a Shearwater and a Puffin were discovered in the 
same hole, and an egg with them, while in another burrow was 
a nestling Shearwater with its parent ; the former clad in a grey 
blanket of thickest down, feet and legs the same colour ; the legs 
already showing the curious pied appearance, so remarkable in the 
adult. Manx Shearwater’s eggs are for the most part white ; but 
Puffin’s eggs get very quickly soiled, though white when laid. 
Their burrows seldom go straight, those of both species generally 
having one turn in them at least ; but the Puffin’s egg is not so far 
from the entrance as the Shearwater’s generally is, this latter being 
seldom less than three feet, so that a spade is requisite to obtain 
them. No Shearwaters were seen to leave their holes voluntarily. 
As for the keeper’s chickens which he rears there in some 
quantity, they are not likely to be successful while Peregrine Falcons 
breed on Skomer, and I fear he will soon devise means to compass 
their death. He had already had eighty (?) chickens killed by 
them, besides which the Jackdaws are a dire foe, having cleared 
off forty-six small ones in one morning from three coops ; but the 
Jackdaws persecute the Choughs, and for that reason, if for no 
other, could be spared. But one sighs to think of the fate of the 
noble Peregrine. 
Ramsey Island. 
Ramsey is the most beautiful island of Pembrokeshire, 800 
* Its presence in considerable numbers on the West Coast of Scotland in 
summer has been dwelt upon by Professor Newton (Auu. Scot. N.II., 1900, 
p. 142). 
