600 LARID^. 



rock During the day Shearwaters, for the most part, 

 remain concealed in their holes, and lie so close that they 

 will suffer themselves to be dug out with a spade and 

 make no attempt to escape. Towards evening they quit 

 their hiding-places, and paddle or fly out to sea in quest ' 

 of food. This consists of small fish and other marine 

 animals which swim near the surface, and are caught 

 by the birds either while they are floating or " shearing " 

 the water. No nest ever contains more than one egg, but 

 that one and the chick which it produces are objects of 

 the greatest solicitude. 



Unfortunately for the poor Shearwaters, their young, 

 though fed on half-digested fish oil, are delicate eating ; 

 consequently, some of the stations of these birds have been 

 quite depopulated, and in others their numbers have been 

 greatly thinned. 



Willughby tells us that in his time Puffins were very 

 numerous in the Calf of Man, and that fully fledged young 

 birds, taken from the nests, were sold at the rate of nine-' 

 pence a dozen. He adds, that in order to keep an accurate 

 reckoning of the number taken, it w^as customary to cut 

 off", and retain, one of each bird's legs. The consequence 

 was that the state in which the bii'ds were sent to market 

 was supposed to be their natural condition, and the 

 Puffin was popularly believed to be a " monopod " (one- 

 footed bird). 



This station is now nearly, if not quite, deserted ; but 

 colonies still exist in Annet, one of the Scilly Islands, on 

 the south coast of Wales, in the Orkneys, and in the 

 Shetlands. In the Scilly Islands the Shearwater is called 

 a Crew, from the harsh note uttered by the bird when its 

 burrow is invaded ; in the north, a Lyre or Scrabe. 



