r)34 THE FEATHERED TRIBES. 



crouL'li until partially or entirely fledged. The eggs afl'ord good eating ; but the flesh of 

 both the young and old birds is rank and unpleasant. 



The Coninion Guillemot inhabits the northern seas of Europe, ^Vsia, and America, 

 emigrating in large troops, in ^vintcr, to the coasts of Norway, the Baltic, Holland, 

 and France, but more rarely wandering to the inland lakes of continents. It often 

 breeds, in eonipany with the auks, among the cliffs of the rocks, as in the Island 

 of I'riestholm near Anglesca, the Fern Isles on the coast of Northumberland, and the 

 precipitous rocks near Scarborough. 



This bird is perhaps riowhere so abundant as at the intei-esting .spot just mentioned, 

 in the neighbourhood of the Needles, and along the adjacent precijjitous coast. 

 At the end of April great numbers of these birds may be seen flying in strings along 

 the coast towards their breeding-places, which are always abrupt elifi's. No preparation- 

 is Uiade for the rece^otion of the eggs. The shelves, on which the eggs are deposited, are 

 often very luirrow, and even sloping ; all arc, however, laid together as close as possible, 

 merely allowing room for each bird to sit upon her own ogg, which is done in an ujiright 

 position. Ranged in compact rows, the guillemots live, each one intent on her task, in 

 social harmony. It is nranifest that each bird can distinguish its own egg in such 

 circumstances. A very little inequality suffices to stead}- an egg, and it is further 

 prevented from rolling off' the steep b}' its sliajie. Many eggs fall in storm}' weather, 

 and are driven o^•er by the birds themselves when flj'ing off abruptly on being fired at. 

 When the young are hatched, they nre plentifully supplied with sprats and small fish, 

 till, in the cour^ of five or six weeks, thev are capable of taking to the water and of 

 fishing for themselves. Tiiis bii-d is oflen ealled the FoohWi Guilleuiol, but for this there 

 is no just reason. 



In St. Kilda it arriv.s about the beginning of h'ebruary, and is hailed by the 

 inhabitanis as the harbinger of plenty. A rock-man will descend in the night, by tlie 

 aid of a rope, to the ledge of a precipice, where he fixes himself, and tj'ing round him a 

 piece of white linen, awaits the approach of the bird, which, mistaking the cloth for a 

 l)ortion of the rock, alights on it, and is immediately despatched. 



In places where thej' are seldom molested, it is with difficulty these birds are put to 

 flight, and thej- may sometiujcs be taken with the hand, while otliers flounder into tlio 

 water, making, apparently, but little use of their wings. In Orkney they contiiuic 

 throughout the winter. They are sometimes very numerous in the I'^rith of Forth, 

 where they seem to subsist principally on sprats. 



" It is interesting," says that acconnilishcd ornitl^^logist, the late Mr. Macgillivray, 

 " to visit one of these great breeding-places, and in a boat proceed along the cliffs, 

 whether a gun be used or not ; to stand on a near promontory and see the multitudes 

 perched on the rock.s, or flying out to sea, or returning; or to look down from the 

 summit ujion the groups in sight, or startle from their slumber a whole troop by letting 

 down a stone ; or to' descend by some crevice, clinging with fingers and unshod feet to 

 tlie little narrow ledges, and creep among the eggs, or be let down dangling on a rope, 

 and half-trembling with fear and excitement. A^ery pleasant all this, but very unscientific 

 and unphilo.sophical — so think the very small would-be-great men, who concoct prize- 

 essays in colleges, and write popular treatises on the sciences, and have evorytliing 

 reduced to principles, and want only a turkey-cock's wattles and tail to make a groat 

 figure in the world. The vain-glory of these persons, some of whom never observed a 

 fact correctly, contrasts chai'acteristically with the lucxlesty of the Ilumboldls, and 

 Cuvicrs, and 31 ilne-Edwai-dses, and Owens, who never dei^rcciate any truth, nor despise 

 any earnest endeavours." 



