A VISIT TO LUNDY.
By F.L. Blathwayt.
Lundy has from time to time been visited by several eminent ornithologists, who have published accounts of the birds they noticed; but, with the exception of the pages relating to birds in Mr. J.R. Chanter's monograph on the island, published in 1877, I have not been able to find any attempt at a complete list of the avifauna of Lundy. A notice therefore with regard to the birds I came across during a recent visit may be useful to anyone contemplating the formation of a full list of the birds of Lundy, and may also interest some of the readers of 'The Zoologist.'
After being detained two days at Instow by the stormy weather, I was at last able to cross to Lundy on May 5th of the present year, in the sailing vessel 'Gannet,' which takes the mail from Instow to the island every week.
Lundy, which, with the exception of the south-east corner, consists almost entirely of granite, rises from 300 to 500 ft. out of the sea, and lies in the entrance to the Bristol Channel, about twelve miles north-west of Hartland Point, its nearest point on the mainland. It is about three miles in length, and less than a mile in width in its broadest part. The southern portion of the top is under cultivation, but the greater part is moorland, and covered with heath, furze, and coarse grass, with large granite boulders protruding in many places, especially at the northern end. On the eastern side the land slopes towards the sea, and is covered in many places with tangled masses of bramble and bracken, out of which rise here and there huge piles of granite, some of them taking very fantastic forms. There are very few landing-places, the best being at the south-east corner, where there is a shingly beach in a natural harbour; but even here it is difficult to get ashore with dry feet, if the wind happens to be in the east.
The cliffs on the western side are for the most part higher and
