just begun laying; but I procured a few eggs, which, though quite fresh, were covered with dirt. A few eiders were breeding here, though they are not numerous; and the down is never collected as the young gannets afford an abundant supply.
I expected to find the petrels breeding near the top of the cliff; but none were at present visible, and I think it must have been too early in the year for eggs. There is no doubt, however, that the fork-tailed petrel does breed here, as I have seen eggs from St. Kilda, and Sir W. Milner procured the birds, though John Macgillivray, like myself, was disappointed in finding them. After searching for some time, I looked over a cliff and saw, far below me, a broad flat ledge on which hundreds of fulmars were sitting among the stones. I descended with a rope we had brought from the Harpy, as none of those the natives had were long enough. Two of the young men followed me, coming down hand over hand at a tremendous pace, As soon as the fulmars were disturbed from their eggs, the black- backed gulls came swooping down, and carried them off in their beaks, much to the indignation of my companions, who hate the "Farspach,” as they call Larus marinus, with a deadly hatred, and practise all sorts of barbarities on them whenever they catch them, as they are terrible robbers of eggs. The young men seemed determined to have every fulmar and every egg they could get, as they enjoyed the opportunity of harrying the rock, which belonged to someone else, and probably laid the blame of it on me afterwards.
All the cliffs here are divided among the inhabitants equally, and the boundaries are as carefully observed as if they were fields, so that no one can take eggs on the main island except from his own rock, Boreray, Soay, and the Stacks are considered common property, and are harried occasionally by a party despatched in the large boat for that purpose.
As it was now getting dark, and the wind rising fast, I thought it best to lose no time in getting on board again; for though I was very sorry to leave the place without visiting all the islands of the group, yet I did not wish to be left there a month or more, and the weather looked so threaten¬ ing that Captain Bell was very unwilling to remain longer. We had much difficulty in getting into the boat owing to the increasing swell, and after arriving on board ship were obliged to take leave of the people and put to sea without loss of time. Before long it was blowing a gale of wind from the south-east, and the weather continued so bad for five weeks that no boat could possibly have landed, so I was obliged to content myself with what I had already seen, and leave a more thorough examination of the group to some future observer.
On my return to the Outer Hebrides, I spent some weeks exploring in my canoe the countless little lochs and islands on which sea-birds bred, and succeeded in finding many nests, some of which, on account of their rarity, I did not mention for fear of attracting people, not so common then as now, who collected eggs for sale. The most interesting of these birds was the Red-necked Phalarope, one of the most beautiful and confiding of the little birds that swim. A good many pairs then nested, as they still do, under the more or less efficient protection of the pro¬ prietors on North and South Uist and Benbecula. They were so tame
