On landing we were met by the minister, Mr. Mackay, who appeared very glad to see anyone, as may well be imagined. Strange to say, he did not seem to take any interest in, or to know much about the birds, though he has been two years among people whose thoughts are more occupied by birds than anything else, and who depend principally on them for their living. I showed a picture of the Great Auk, which Mr. J.H. Gurney, junior, had kindly sent me, to the people, some of the oldest of whom appeared to recognise it, and said that it had not been seen for many years; but they were so excited by the arrival of strangers that it was impossible to get them to say more about it, and though Mr. Mackay promised to take down any stories or information about the bird that he could collect, when they had leisure to think about it, he has not as yet sent me any. I do not think, however, that more than two or three examples are at all likely to have been seen in the last forty years, as Mr. Atkinson, of Newcastle, who went there in 1831, does not say a word about it in his paper,* beyond mentioning the name, and neither John Macgillivray who visited the place in 1840, nor Sir W. Milner, say that any specimens had been recently procured. I believe that Bullock was also there about 1818, and as he had not long before met with the species in Orkney, there is little doubt he would have mentioned it to somebody if he had heard of any having been recently procured at St. Kilda.
I made every enquiry about this bird on the north and west coasts of Lewis, and showed pictures of it to the fishermen; but all agreed that nothing of the sort had ever been seen since they could remember. Indeed the only specimen of which we know for certain that has been seen in the present century is the one that Dr, Fleming had in 1821, which was captured alive by Mr. Maclellan, of Scalpa, somewhere off St. Kilda.
The first thing which strikes one on entering the houses here is the strong smell of fulmar which pervades everything; though much of the filth which formerly filled them is now cleared out, yet they are by no means pleasant to one who is not accustomed to the smell.
Soon after landing, I started off with some of the best cragsmen to the cliffs at the north side of the island, which form the principal breeding- places of the fulmar. On reaching the top of Conacher, which is the highest hill in the island, we came quite suddenly on a precipice which, accoiding to the measurement of Captain Otter, is no less than 1,220 feet high. The whole of this immense face of rock was so crowded with birds, of which fulmars and puffins made up the greater number, that the sea was seen far below as if through a heavy snowstorm; indeed the birds which were flying in front of the cliff almost obscured the view for a little distance. All the ledges near the top were covered with short turf full of holes, in which the fulmars were sitting on their eggs with the head and part of the body exposed outside. In some cases they were quite concealed; but generally the soil was too thin for them to make more than a slight excava¬ tion. Thousands of fulmars were flying backwards and forwards, with a soft owl-like flight; and though the air was full of them, hardly one ever came over the top of the cliffs.
After having admired the scene for some time, I prepared to descend—
1 Transactions of the Natural History Society, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1832.
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