CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 129 



of the head and neck occasionally retaining the down 

 for some time after the other parts. While in their 

 infancy they are the most peevish little wretches, 

 snapping, quarrelling, and fighting with the utmost 

 ferocity. Though the personal injury that they in- 

 flict on one another is generally small, their battles 

 are not unfrequently attended with fatal results, as 

 one or perhaps both of the combatants lose their 

 balance, and, falling from their ledge, are dashed 

 to pieces on the rocks below. It is a curious 

 fact that not the slightest notice is ever taken of a 

 young one that drops on the water, even by its own 

 parents, while an old bird that is shot will immediately 

 draw hundreds around it, where they will remain flying 

 in circles till the bird has drifted a mile or two from 

 the rock. 



The landlord of the inn at Canty Bay, who also 

 hires the Bass Rock, depends mainly on the geese for 

 paying his rent. The average take for each season is 

 now about eight or nine hundred full-fledged young 

 birds ; this, however, depends greatly on the weather, 

 as, should the rocks be wet and slippery from continued 

 rain, it renders the work of going over to collect them 

 both dangerous and unpleasant, as the liquid guano 

 lies in pools a foot or two deep on some of the ledges 

 and in the cracks of the rocks. 



Ten or fifteen years ago as many as 1,500 or 2,000 

 were occasionally taken, but since that time the birds 

 have greatly decreased. 



After being plucked and cleaned, some are sent to 

 the markets at Birmingham, Manchester, and other 

 large provincial towns, and generally bring in from 

 eightpence to tenpence each ; others are hawked about 



