Class II. G A N N E T. 615 



"rocks, innumerable birds of various forts and fixes, 

 u more than the fiars of heaven when viewed in a 

 " ferene night : if from afar you fee the diftant 

 "flocks, either flying to or from the ifland, you would 

 " imagine them to be a vafl fwarm of bees*." 



Nor do the rocks of St. Kilda feem to be lefs fre- 

 quented by thefe birds ; for Martin allures us, that 

 the inhabitants of that fmall iiland confume an- 

 nually no lefs than 22,600 young birds of this 

 fpecies, befides an amazing quantity of their eggs; 

 thefe being their principal fupport throughout the 

 year ; they preferve both eggs and fowls in fmall 

 pyramidal ftone buildings, covering them with turf 

 allies, to preferve them from moifture. This is a 

 dear bought food, earned at the hazard of their 

 lives, either by climbing the moft difficult and 



* Eft infula par-va, Scoti Baffe ?iominant, baud amplius milk 

 paffuum circuitu amplitudo ejus clauditur. Hujus infula f up er fi- 

 des, men/thus Maio iff Junio nidis o-vis pullifque propemodum to- 

 la inftrata eft, adeo ut <vix, pro: eorum copia pede?n liberie ponere 

 liceat : tantaque fuper-jolantium turba, ut nubium inftar, folem 

 caelumque auferant : tantvfque c vociferantium clangor iff ftrepitus, 

 ut prop} alloquentes <vix audias. Si fiibjeclum mare hide, tan- 

 quam ex edita turri iff altijjimo pr&cipitio defpexeris, ide?n quo- 

 quo versum, infinitis diverforum generum a-vibus nataniibus pr&- 

 d&que inhiantibus, opertum njideas. Si circumnavigando immi- 

 7ientem clivum fufpicere libuerit ; -videas in ftngulis prtsrupti loci 

 crepidinibus iff recejjibus, avium cujujlibet generis iff magnitudi- 

 nis, ordines innumerabiles, plures fane quam nocle, fereno carlo, 

 ftell& ccnfpiciuntur . Si aduolantes auolantefque eminits adfpexeris, 

 apu?n profeclo ingens cxamen credas. De generat. Animal. Ex 

 ercit. 11. 



S f 3 narrow 



