20 
Dr. R. 0. Cunningham on the Solan Goose. 
monarchs; and more recently were much esteemed by the citi¬ 
zens of Edinburgh and other towns, being roasted and eaten as 
a relish before dinner. Now, I believe, their consumption is 
chiefly limited to the lower classes; and I have been informed 
on good authority that, after being parboiled and having their 
legs cut off, they are sold in considerable numbers to the Irish 
peasants who come over to Scotland at harvest-time. 
Ailsa Craig, the breeding-station of the Solan Goose in the 
Firth of Clyde, consists of a mass of columnar trap of a conical 
form, rising nearly 1100 feet above the level of the sea. It is 
about two miles in circumference, and there is only one point 
where it is possible to land. The north-west side is almost 
perpendicular, and composed of successive tiers of columns re¬ 
sembling those of Staffa, but on a larger scale; while the other 
sides are clothed with grass, and gradually slope down to the 
level of the sea. The Solan Geese build in great numbers on 
the cliffs, and may be seen fishing in abundance in the neigh¬ 
bourhood. 
St. Kilda, the outermost of the Hebrides, measures about 
three miles long and two broad. Its sides are formed of per¬ 
pendicular precipices, rising in some parts to a height of 1300 
or 1400 feet, and it possesses but one landing-place, situated on 
the south-east, which can only be reached in very propitious 
weather. The Solan Geese form one of the principal sources of 
the sustenance of the inhabitants, who make use of them in a 
variety of ways—the women, for example, employing their 
skin in the manufacture of shoes. 
In Iceland, according to Faber, the Solan Goose is much 
more abundant in the south than in the north. It does not 
appear to breed on the mainland, and its principal stations are 
those islands which I have already mentioned. It comes to 
them towards the end of April, and builds a large nest, princi¬ 
pally of seaweed, which it often brings from a considerable dis¬ 
tance. The egg is deposited about the middle of May, and the 
young bird is hatched in the beginning of July. As in Britain, 
the birds leave their breeding-places in October, and spend the 
winter cruising about the sea-coasts. 
Of the American breeding-stations of the Solan Geese we 
