HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



!S3 



stops, the wonder is that what with the depredations 

 of the birds themselves, who can often be seen sitting 

 in most contemplative and philosophical fashion, with 

 half a huge shell impaled on their beaks, what with 

 the rats, what with the assiduous hunts of the islanders, 

 the sailors and the pilots, any escape. Puffins 

 generally lay their eggs, which are much like those 

 of the domestic fowl in size and shape, though not 

 identical in colour, in burrows, and so many of them 

 escape, and the razor-bills also choose obscure nooks 

 behind the huge masses of rock that have fallen from 

 the top of the island. But gulls and guillemots are 

 less fortunate and far-seeing, and they deposit their 

 eggs in full view of the egg-gatherer, while Solan 

 geese select by preference a few bare ledges, not very 

 difficult to reach, and few, indeed, of their eggs are 

 hatched out. The largest egg is the gannet's, and it 

 usually fetches sixpence in the market, but the most 

 brilliantly coloured is the guillemot's— green, white, 

 or blue. Nests are not made, except rude ones by 

 gannets and gulls, and a little rubbish is scraped 

 together by some of the puffins. Sea birds, in short, 

 do not excel in nest building. 



The tameness of the birds at the breeding-season is 

 remarkable, and some of the smaller species actually 

 remain on their eggs until they are touched, and 

 resent any attempt to remove them, opening their 

 formidable beaks, and with right good will snapping 

 at the fingers of the egg-thief. Of all quaint little 

 creatures, none surpasses the puffin with its comical 

 appearance and red colouring, so much more vivid in 

 real life and in its native haunts than in museums, 

 where, however well and skilfully the bird-stuffer 

 does his work, the lover of nature is painfully struck 

 by the contrast, missing that indescribable something 

 which life alone can give. The eggs are not bad 

 when boiled a long time, but they have rather a strong 

 flavour, and are of no use for delicate cooking of a 

 high class ; while, as for the flesh of the birds them- 

 selves, though not absolutely unpalatable, especially 

 in a meat pie, there is something unpleasant in the 

 thought of eating them, and few are used to satisfy the 

 luxurious appetite of. man on our English coasts, 

 though the hardier and less squeamish Scotch do not 

 despise them preserved in salt. 



Of land birds Lundy has a larger list than one 

 would expect, blackbirds and song thrushes, robins, 

 white-throats, a few cuckoos, sparrows, chaffinches 

 and other common species being fairly numerous, and 

 in severe weather considerable flocks of tender native 

 birds cross from the mainland. In addition to the 

 above, plovers, curlews, peregrine falcons, Cornish 

 choughs, ravens, crows, goshawks, and buzzards are 

 seen in small numbers, a pair or two of each species 

 residing on the island. The peregrine falcons of Lundy 

 have always been in high repute for hawking, and even 

 af the present day young falcons are sent away for 

 this purpose. An occasional eagle has before now 

 condescended to alight on the island for a brief rest. 



Although the rocks look precipitous, and in places 

 rise in abrupt ledges four hundred and even four hun- 

 dred and fifty feet from the water, long practice and 

 holding a rope in the hand, fastened securely to a 

 crowbar driven into the ground, or firmly attached to 

 a projecting ledge or knob of rock, will enable a cool 

 head and a keen eye to explore almost all the island 

 ledges, comparatively little of the sidelands being 

 altogether inaccessible. Nor is this amusement as 

 dangerous as might be at first supposed, though lives 

 occasionally have been lost. Ladies soon become 

 expert climbers, and find great enjoyment exploring 

 the nooks and crannies of the mysterious bays of the 

 west and north-west. 



The population never can have been large, nor can 

 fishing have helped to bring immigrants from Cornwall 

 and Devon. The want of a secure harbour is a fatal 

 drawback, for though the anchorage is excellent, and 

 shelter can generally be found in the roughest 

 weather, there has not been for many years, and 

 perhaps there never was, any place where a small 

 craft could find absolute safety in all states of sea 

 and wind ; in other words, vessels could never have 

 belonged to the island and stayed near it. The 

 shellfish is good, and a band of rugged Cornish 

 fisher-folk, from the 'wild coves of Land's End and 

 Sennen, generally come over for some months every 

 spring and summer, and, with the help of their 

 lobster pots, manage to get large hauls, which they 

 take over to Ilfracombe or Instow for the London 

 market. The fishermen's life is one of great peril 

 and exposure, and intense labour, and its rewards are 

 small ; the poor fellows losing their sleep and working 

 like slaves, and often perishing in storms, and all this 

 in return for very poor wages. 



The antiquities of Lundy are not remarkable, and, 

 except for the remains of the small castle, there is 

 little to attract the antiquary. Legends there are 

 of a large population in ancient days, of towns, 

 villages, and large churches, but these seem to have 

 little to rest upon. Some brass guns were said to be 

 visible at certain states of the tide on the west side, 

 in the water, but I never saw them, though I often 

 looked for them. Some kistvaens were found many 

 years ago, but no description was made of them, 

 and they are totally gone. A quarter of a century 

 ago, however, some men cutting a tunnel for the 

 foundation of a wall, came upon a curious grave, 

 evidently of great antiquity, containing a skeleton, and 

 the remains of eight or nine other human bodies were 

 lying near. The skeleton in the grave is said to have 

 measured eight feet three, and a second skeleton was 

 also of abnormal size. The improbability that the 

 correct measurements were obtained is so obvious that 

 few people will accept these figures as reliable. A 

 lady residing on the island, though temporarily absent 

 at the time, assured me that no mistake had been made, 

 and that I could accept these figures. Unfortunately 

 the attention of antiquaries was not drawn to the 



