COMMON RAZORBILL. 353 



Having left the landing-place abont ten in the morning, 

 \vc passed along the rocks westward, three of my companions 

 shooting joyously as we proceeded. About fifty birds were 

 killed, j)rincipally Guillemots, the Auks being for the most 

 part, and the Puffins entirely out of reach, while the Kitti- 

 wakes, although nearest, not being in groups, were not 

 molested. Some Puffins were procured by our guide, who 

 went on shore for them. About twelve, the wind began to 

 come in gusts, and the agitation of the sea increased, particu- 

 larly at the western extremity of the island, where a strong 

 current ran, producing a jumble of short waves. These cir- 

 cumstances prevented us fiom visiting several places said to 

 be equally interesting, particularly an islet on which the 

 Puffins breed in vast numbers, and induced us to return to 

 our anchorage through the narrow channel between Berneray 

 and Minglay. The predicted change of weather had com- 

 menced : some rain fell, and the wind blew freshly from the 

 south. About two o'clock we set sail with a favourable 

 breeze, and in an hour and three quarters performed the 

 voyage, which, when outward bound, had taken us about four 

 hours, the distance being ten miles. 



This is one way of examining such places, and pleasant 

 enough it is ; but there is a better. Let the observer, having 

 discovered a crack in the rock affording a somewhat perilous 

 descent, cautiously, with knees and elbows, unshod feet and 

 grasping fingers, make his way into the midst of the birds. 

 There they are around you. Collect yourself, breathe freely, 

 deeply, hold on with feet and hands, take one comprehensive 

 glance, but look not again to the deep-green sea beneath, 

 lest you become giddy. Most of the birds that have been 

 here have fled, leaving their large, oblong, blotched eggs on 

 the bare rock. You wonder at their security, but touch one 

 of them, and you will find that it rolls in a semicircle, or, if 

 there be any asperities beneath, scarcely at all. The Auks 

 that come in from the sea ascend curving toward you, with a 

 quick direct flight, far from buoyant, however, and merely 

 with force enough to clear the edge of the shelf. They alight 

 abruptly and heavily, and stand nearly erect, with their whole 

 tarsus on the rock. Those on their eggs are in a horizontal 



VOL. V. 2 A 



