Harvesting Seabirds and their Eggs on the Irish Sea Islands (Part 2: Mainland of Man)

Abstract

The full paper 'Harvesting Seabirds and their Eggs on the Irish Sea Islands' now appears in four parts. Except for the 'Manx puffin' (Part 3, forthcoming, Folk Life, 49.1), little survives to illuminate seabird exploitation in the Isle of Man, and possible reasons for this and for the paucity of evidence elsewhere around the Irish Sea are discussed in Part 4 (forthcoming, Folk Life, 49.2). For the mainland of Man, fragmentary evidence confirms one-time harvesting of gulls and rock pigeons, and archaeological excavation has revealed bones for such as auks, gulls, rock dove, shag, and cormorant. Part 2 (below) begins with transcripts of recent recordings highlighting the shooting of geese and land birds and gathering of gull eggs. Revived during the twentieth century as a result of wartime food shortages, gull egg collecting remains legal (given successful application for a permit). Part 2 also focuses on rock doves and razorbills, including razorbills' economic value as food and their feathers as fashion accessories. It concludes with a re-evaluation of evidence for the great auk's survival into late eighteenth-, possibly early nineteenth-century Man and its former potential for human exploitation on the island.