' Nafilral History in Scotlaml. 393 



Torda Linnaeus, provincially Coultcr\ the Guillemot' (Cf Via Troille La- 

 tham and Temminck, provincially Queet), and, lastly, the Puffin (A'Ica 

 arctica Linncsus, Fratercula arctica Flemings provincially Tammy norie). * 

 To a stranger who visits, for the first time, the scene of their vernal abode, 

 the spectacle presented is striking and interesting in no ordinary degree. On 

 the various portions of the immense rocks, which rise in sublime magnifi- 

 cence before him, sit thousands and tens of thousands of the birds to which 

 ;\v^e are now directing our attention. And it is curious to observe the regu- 

 larity with which the different species attach themselves to the places most 

 ■suited to their various wants and capacities. The Kittiwakes and Guillemots 

 inhabit the firmest and most precipitous of the rocks, on the ledges of which 

 they form their nests. These ledges, when viewed from below, appear to 

 the spectator as scarcely presenting an inch's breadth of surface, and yet the 

 birds contrive to form their nests, which, in the case of the kittiwake, is 

 done with grass, and to hatch their young in this seemingly impracticable 

 situation ; although it sometimes indeed happens, that, on being suddenly 

 startled, their eggs tumble down into the sea. Although associated together, 

 however, no actual intermixture takes place between the two species ; for 

 they have each their own particular ledges on which they sit, drawn up like 

 regiments of soldiers, in the most imperturbable manner, and if startled, by 

 a more than ordinary alarm, from their nests, they nevertheless return, after 

 a single evolution in the air, to the important duties from which they had 

 been with difficulty aroused. The two species are easily distinguishable. 

 The kittiwake is at once conspicuous by its snow-white head and breast, its 

 yellowish bill, and its pearly blue mantle ; while the guillemot is recog- 

 nised by its upright figure, the legs being placed very far back, as is the case 

 with most sea fowl, and by the great portion of brownish sleek black with 

 which its plumage is diversified. The peculiar nature, indeed, of the con- 

 figuration of this latter bird, by which, when sitting or attempting to walk, 

 its whole leg appears as if it were its foot, has given rise to the popular but 

 erroneous idea that it hatches its eggs by means of covering it with the part 

 of its body in question. On a promontory immediately adjoining, and com- 

 posed of softer materials, are assembled the Puffins, or, in the language of 

 this part of the country, the Tammy nories, who, laying their eggs in holes 

 burrowed in the earth, cannot, of course, take up their abode on the hard 

 ledges occupied by the birds whose position we have already described. In 

 the same manner the Razor-bills, although occasionally associating with the 

 guillemot, occupy, in general, a separate and somewhat soft and perforated 

 part of those enormous precipices, which, in the busy season of spring, teem 

 with life in all directions. These birds (the razor-bills) very much resemble 

 the guillemots in appearance, especially when seen at a distance on wing. 

 They may, however, on a nearer approach, be distinguished from the latter 

 by the broad form of their bills, and by the superior length of their wings, 

 which are, moreover, marked by a conspicuous streak of white along their 

 outward extremity. 



Some of this enormous body of sea fowl (probably males) are constantly in 

 motion, either gracefully and lightly swimming about in detached groups on 

 the sea, or, by their circular evolutions in the air, indicating to the yet dis- 

 tant visitor the particular rock where he may hope to encounter them in 

 congregated thousands. And on a fine day, and under the mild influence of 

 a vernal and unclouded sun, the scene is particularly beautiful. The ocean 

 lies tranquil, and stretched out before the spectator like an immense sheet 

 of glass, smiling in its soft and azure beauty, while over its surface the kitti- 

 wake, the guillemot, the razor-bill, and the puffin, conspicuous by the bril- 



* The provincial names here given are those used by the inhabitants of 

 the coast in question. 



Vol. II. — No. 9. dd 



