Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/410

376 steeper than on the eastern, and consequently these are the favourite haunts of the cliff-birds for which Lundy is famous. When I arrived, on May 5th, I was told that all the birds had not yet come in from the sea, but during my short stay they arrived daily in large numbers, and by May 11th, the date on which I left, most of the sea birds must, I think, have settled down in their summer quarters. On May 7th particularly, which was a fine warm day, I noticed the Puffins coming in from the sea to the island in a continuous stream.

I was most anxious to find out whether the Gannet (Sula bassana) still nested on Lundy, and was pleased to find a few on the island, though I fear they are in great danger of extermination. Three pairs were building near the lighthouse at the northern end, and, if they are not disturbed, their numbers will no doubt increase. From what I hear, however, it is very seldom that they manage to take away any young, as the eggs have a market value of one shilling apiece. The history of the Gannets on Lundy is not pleasant reading for a lover of birds. In former times they inhabited an island off the north-east end, still called after them "the Gannet Rock." They were so persecuted, however, that they deserted this rock, and tried to establish themselves on the island itself; while some are thought to have migrated to Grassholm, an island off Pembrokeshire, where there is at present a small colony. The Gannets which remained on Lundy unfortunately did not escape persecution by their change of quarters; but in spite of this they persevered, and, from what I can gather from the islanders, there were about thirty pairs of breeding birds as lately as six or seven years ago. Unfortunately for the birds, the very spot they had chosen on which to build their nests was selected for the erection of the new lighthouse at the northern extremiyextremity [sic], which, I believe, was opened towards the end of 1897. The quarrying and blasting operations which attended the building of this lighthouse necessarily disturbed the Gannets, though some few pairs seem to have clung to their old haunts, even while the work was in progress. Their numbers seem now to have dwindled down to the three or four pairs which I saw this year, and it is earnestly to be hoped that they will not be driven from this their only known nesting-place on English ground. The few remaining pairs seem to have learnt wisdom by experi-