FOOLISH GUILLEMOT. 323 



one egg ready for being laid, and of a pure white colour." 

 I have a pure white egg taken from a Golden Eagle, and in a 

 Red Grouse's nest a white egg also. Any dissecting orni- 

 thologist knows how and where eggs receive their colouring. 



It is interesting to visit one of the 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 rocks, or flying out to sea, or returning ; or 

 to look down from the summit upon the gioups in sight, or 

 startle from their stations a whole troop by letting down a 

 large stone ; or to descend by some crevice, clinging with 

 fingers and unshod feet to the little narrow ledges, and creep 

 among the eggs, or be let down dangling on a rope, and half- 

 trembling with fear and excitement. Very pleasant all this, 

 but very unscientific and unphilosophical, as think the very 

 small would-be-great men, who concoct prize-essays in col- 

 leges, and write popular treatises on the sciences, and have 

 everything reduced to principles, and want only a Turkey- 

 cock's wattles and tail to make a great figure in the world. The 

 vain-glory of these persons, some of whom never observed a 

 fact correctly, contrasts characteristically with the modesty 

 of the Humboldts, and Cuviers, and Milne-Edwardses, and 

 Owens, Avho never depreciate any truth, or despise any earnest 

 endeavours. 



" The Black Guillemot, the Common Guillemot, Razor- 

 bill, Puffin, and Cormorant," writes my Skye correspondent, 

 " all breed in great numbers on the groups of islands called 

 Fladda and Ascrib. The Puffins are very numerous, the 

 Black Guillemots are not so abundant. On a clear summer's 

 morning, when the sea lies slumbering calmly under the all- 

 diffused glow of sunshine, it is delightful to sit on the top of 

 some cliff and see the many busy troops of Guillemots hurry- 

 ing over the sparkling bosom of the blue waters, the sun 

 lighting up the clear white plumage as they haste along. The 

 view of the Long Island, from the peaks of Harris to the low 

 sandy shores of Uist, on such a morning, is magnificent." 



By the middle of August the young are all fledged, and 

 then old and young disperse. The distribution of this species 

 extends from Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen, over the whole 



