Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/411

Rh ence, and have selected a place where only bold climbers could reach their nests. Formerly, I am told, they built their nests in places where any child could take their eggs without danger.

The building of the lighthouse and the noise of the fog-horns seem to have disturbed all the sea-fowl at the northern end of the island, and their numbers are said to be far smaller than in former years. Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills, and Kittiwakes, however, still breed on the island in enormous numbers.

The Guillemots (Uria troile) have their colonies chiefly on the northern half of the western face of Lundy, where, in company with Razorbills (Alca torda), and Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), they may be seen standing in rows, or packed closely together in bunches, wherever they can find a foothold on the cliffs. I noticed in particular one tall rock which was flat at the top, and on this the Guillemots were packed almost as closely as they are on the famous "Pinnacles" at the Fames during the breeding season.

The chief colony of the Puffins (Fratercula arctica) is at the northern end, where the birds burrow in the soft soil among a débris of huge granite boulders scattered about in wild confusion. The number of the birds must be enormous, as, when one approaches the colony, all the rocks and the sea beneath appear to be covered with Puffins and Razorbills; while hundreds more are swinging round and round in a large circle, which extends some distance over the water. I was much struck by the remarkable tameness of the birds. As long as I kept fairly still they appeared to have no fear at all, and in a few minutes I had Puffins and Razorbills all round me, and some almost within arm's length. One Razorbill perched on the very stone which I had selected as a seat.

The Kittiwake is by far the most numerous of the Gulls on the island, and their chief quarters are on the north-west side in company with the Guillemots, and in two clefts at the north end. Their nests appear to be stuck against the faces of the cliffs, and on some of the most precipitous rocks it seems wonderful how the birds manage to get any hold at all.

Besides the Kittiwake, three species of Gulls breed on Lundy—the Herring-Gull (Larus argentatus), and the Lesser and Greater Black-backed Gulls (L.fuscus and L. marinus). There Zool. 4th ser. vol. IV., August, 1900.