270 OUR RARER BIRDS 



and reappears ; every now and then one rises into the 

 air and settles a little distance away ; while all the time 

 birds are going to and returning from the distant headland, 

 now lying low and indistinct on the horizon. We have a 

 good opportunity of witnessing the flight of the Eazorbill 

 now. See how heavily he rises from the water, sometimes 

 flapping along the surface, sometimes starting off at once. 

 How rapidly the narrow wings are moved, as if the bird were 

 compelled to beat tliem as fast as possible to prevent its heavy 

 body falling back into the water again. Once well up though, 

 the birds have no small command over themselves, and are 

 rapidly lost to view in the distance. We must be at least 

 ten miles from the rocks where these birds are breeding, but 

 this distance is nothing to a Eazorbill ; and little parties of 

 birds may oft be seen flying quickly and silently close above 

 the sea to much more distant feeding-places. 



The Eazorbill feeds almost exclusively on small fish, very 

 similar to those which the Puffin eats, and it is especially 

 fond of fry. It chases the fish through the water quite as dex- 

 terously as the Hawk hunts the little birds on land, and is 

 capable of remaining under the surface for a surprising length 

 of time. It often visits the bottom of the shallower portions 

 of the sea, and searches amongst the rocks and seaweed for 

 crustaceans and other small marine creatures, yet it never 

 obtains any food on the shore, generally diving for all the 

 prey it captures. 



But let us put our boat about and tack towards the 

 distant land again. We have seen the Eazorbill at home in 

 his native sea : now let us visit his busy colony on the rocks 

 and make ourselves acquainted with his domestic arrange- 

 ments. We need not visit the smooth cliffs where the narrow 

 ledges form a resting-place for Guillemots and Kittiwakes, 

 for there our search would be futile. AVe must confine our 

 operations to the rough broken rocks, where the face of the 



