s accumulated on some of these islands, or amongst
the loose rocks and stones; these latter, however, are the safest places
for the Puffin, as, in spite of the Guernsey Bird Act, which protects
the eggs as well as the birds, the Guernsey fishermen are fond of
visiting these islands whenever they can for the purpose of what they
call "Barbeloting;" and they soon lift up the loose earth with their
hands and get at the eggs; but the Puffins, who have laid in holes in
the rocks and amongst loose stones, are much better off, as a good big
stone of two or three tons is not so easily moved. I visited all these
little islands in the summer of 1878 with Mr. Howard Saunders, and we
found all the Puffins who had had eggs in holes in the earth had been
robbed almost without an exception; the others, however, were pretty
safe. Besides these islands the Puffins breed in Alderney itself, and on
Burhou, where, however, their eggs are robbed nearly as much as in the
islands north of Herm, especially the eggs of those who choose holes in
the soft earth. The Puffins do not seem to be very regular in their time
of nesting; at least, when I was at Burhou on the 14th of June, 1876, I
found quite fresh eggs, eggs just ready to hatch, young birds in the
down, and young birds just beginning to get a few feathers and almost
able to take to the water; it was fun to see one of these when he had
been unearthed waddle off to the nearest hole as fast as his legs could
carry him--generally, however, coming down every second or third step.
The reason for the irregularity in hatching was probably owing to the
first brood having been lost, the eggs probably having been robbed.
During the breeding season the Puffins keep very close to their
breeding-stations, and do not apparently wander more than a few hundred
yards from them even in search of food; so that, unless you actually
visit the islands on which they breed, you can form no idea of the
number of Puffins actually breeding in the Channel Islands. The number
of Puffins, however, at Burhou seem to me to have considerably
diminished of late years, for in the summer of 1866, when going through
the Swinge, we passed a great flock of these birds; "in fact, for more
than a mile both air and water were swarming with them."[28] This
certainly was not the case in either 1876 or 1878, though there were
still a great many Puffins there; probably the continued egg-stealing
has had some effect in reducing their nu