REVIEWS. 1 1 



limited to the time when the islets and surrounding seas are prepared for its recep- 

 tion. To the fisherman its grating cry is as welcome as the craking of the land- 

 rail to the farmer, and its buoyant form is hailed with the same gratification upon 

 the sea as the swallow upon the land. 



" To most ornithologists, few birds have conferred more pleasure in observing 

 their habits than the roseate tern. Congregated in small flocks, they form in a 

 manner similar to the gulls ' a play' upon the water, wherever a ' school' of fish 

 is swimming near the surface, each bird, attractive from its changing and varying 

 appearance — 



'Now poising o'er ocean thy delicate form, 

 Now breasting the surge with thy bosom so warm ; 

 Now sweeping the billow, now floating on high, 

 Now bathing thy plumes in the light of the sky.' 



" Yet beautiful as are these birds, they are too often ruthlessly condemned to 

 suffer for those very attractions which should preserve them — instances frequently 

 occurring where a breeding haunt is invaded by persons whose propensities for 

 slaughter find an outlet in the destruction of these unoffending birds. Equally un- 

 fortunate in its habits at this time, the roseate tern forgets its usual timidity ; and 

 when a bird, after being shot, falls slowly through the air from its buoyant light- 

 ness, the entire flock congregate and fly down towards it, as if wondering why it had 

 left their joyous troop. Flying in its vicinity, they scream notes of compassion, 

 which are changed into a requiem for themselves, for the class who commit such 

 an atrocity consider each pitiable trait exhibited by the bird as at least a tribute 

 to the skill which they evince in destroying them. 



" The razor-bill nearly equals the guillemot in its numbers and distribution around 

 the shores of the island, and closely resembles that bird in habits, amicably frequent- 

 ing the same ledge on the face of the rock, where it deposits its single egg, enor- 

 mously disproportionate to the size of the bird, and often in situations at an immense 

 altitude over the ocean. Interesting in its habits from the associations connected 

 with it, the razor-bill is an attendant upon the lofty precipices which occur around 

 our island, and is equally abundant about the basaltic columns of the north as the 

 granite ranges of the western coast. Observed and studied in their solitary breed- 

 ing haunts, few can form the most remote idea of the magnificence which greets 

 the observer in the neighbourhood of a breeding station. Flocks of various species, 

 flying in long strings close to the water, and rising on the wing as they approach 

 the cliffs, all settle without the slightest noise ; bending over, we observe them 

 ranged in lines along each flat, tabular projection, preening their feathers, and sit- 

 ting upright hatching their single egg. The outer rocks at the base we observe, 

 white and spotless, covered with hundreds of sea-gulls, in such contrast with the 

 black side of the rock, as it were overspread with snow, outrivalling the white foam 

 of the waves which surround it ; lines of cormorants stoop forward, in their peculiar 

 manner of standing, like so many projecting ornaments on a balustrade. There is 

 no alarm or disturbance to intrude upon this carnival of the breeding season ; but 

 let a gun be discharged, and instantly the entire precipice seems alive : hundreds of 

 guillemots, razor-bills, and puffins glancing downwards to the water, flocks of cor- 

 morants, with their long necks outstretched, fly off close to the water's edge, and 

 settling down when sufficiently remote from danger ; whilst at the same instant, 

 like ten thousand snowflakes, kittiwakes (viewed from the distance above) wheel 

 round in circles, their confused screaming scarcely distinguishable from the seething 

 of the ocean. Overhead some patriarchal raven croaks hoarsely and angrily at our 

 intrusion, whilst four or five kestrels appear on their motionless wings like so many 

 fixed objects against the sky ; each pinnacle of the rock is surmounted by a troop 

 of jackdaws, their sidelong looks directed upon us, and chattering loudly, as if to 

 silence the harsh grating cry of the starlings beside them. 



u Beautiful as such a sight must be, however imperfect in its description, it is 

 pitiable when we reflect upon those solitudes invaded by boats full of persons, who 

 form parties to destroy those birds, offering neither an opportunity to display the 

 skill of the shooter, nor, when shot, of the slightest value as an article of food. 

 Unfortunately, never glutted by destroying, they cover the sea with their quivering 



