436 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



a hive, and in places almost darkening the face of the 

 sea. At the upper edge of the cliff, where the grass is 

 cropped to lawn-like smoothness by the sheep, a 

 rising Guillemot appears no larger than a swallow. 

 Below, lining every ledge and jagged projection, 

 the birds stand in close order, and their numbers 

 appear to suffer no diminution from the constant 

 succession which may be seen drooping from their 

 lofty resting-places to the surging waters far 

 beneath. 



LIpon the ledges, often so narrow that the slight- 

 est tilt would appear sufficient to dislodge it, the 

 single, sharply pointed and disproportionately 

 large egg is laid. In this case the pear-shaped 

 formation fulfils a distinct use. The egg becomes 

 almost incapable of rolling, and if set in motion 

 merely revolves about the point. At the same time 

 the space afforded is often so slight that when the 

 Guillemots are suddenly alarmed, as by the firing 

 of a gun, their outrush frequently dashes the egg 

 clear of the ledges to the sea. No other British 

 birds' eggs show the great variation in colouring to 

 be observed in those of the Guillemots. The 

 average may be taken to be of a bluish-green, 

 blotched and streaked with black and rusty brown, 

 but infinite modifications occur, ranging from a 

 pale unspotted blue, almost a white, to the dark- 

 est umber, which is in some examples almost a 

 uniform black. The young are covered with hair- 

 like down, and, before they are able to fly, are borne^ 

 by the parents to the sea beneath, where they at 

 once swim and dive freely. 



At the end of August or beginning of September 



