162 BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 



these movements have not yet been sufficiently well 

 analysed to permit of our making a general statement. 



As early as February the breeding-birds begin to stream 

 towards the few favoured localities which are to be the 

 centres of their activities till late in the autumn. It is, 

 however, some time later before the nesting operations 

 actually begin. The nest is merely a heap of herbage 

 and seaweed placed on a rocky ledge or on a plat- 

 form or slope of the island. In May or June a single 

 egg is laid. This is light blue in colour, more or 

 less concealed by a white chalky outer layer, which 

 soon takes on a darker stain. At this season the birds 

 are quarrelsome among themselves, and are incorrigible 

 thieves of each other's nesting materials. The old birds 

 dvu'ing incubation usually show little shyness of man, and 

 will frequently allow themselves to be handled. There 

 are instances, too, of Gannets sleeping on the water being 

 so unwary as to permit their capture. This absence of 

 great fear of man is not altogether surprising when we 

 consider how little the birds are interfered with under 

 favourable conditions, and how seldom they come into 

 contact with human beings or their works. Their lives 

 are indeed spent on the most barren and, from man's point 

 of view, most useless portions of land, and on the path- 

 less seas. Things are not always so prosperous, however. 

 Sometimes they incur the jealousy of the fishermen, as 

 we have seen, and sometimes the fishermen's nets prove 

 disastrous to them. More serious still is the heavy toll 

 levied by the Scottish islanders on some of the nesting 

 colonies. Hundreds of young birds are taken annually in 

 August in some places, and flesh, fat, and feathers are 

 all put to separate account. 



The nestlings are at first helpless and naked, and as 

 tlie colour of their skin is black they have a somewhat 



