144 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF AILSA CRAIG. 



seemed to imperil their safety. To watch the parent bird working 

 an egg under it with the aid of its bill when so placed is some- 

 what exciting. As a matter of fact one is startled from time to 

 time to hear an egg smashing in its fall from the cliff, and every 

 steamboat excursion round the Craig, with its attendant gun firing 

 to raise the birds, is answerable for the destruction of many eggs 

 during the nesting season. The eggs of this species are remarkable 

 for their great size, for the beauty of their ground colour, the 

 boldness of their markings and the varied manner of their 

 distribution. They are of an elegant pyriform shape. 



If visitors to the Craig go up to the cairn on the summit by the 

 path that passes the castle they will see a great deal of the Ailsa 

 cock or puffin (Frateraila arcticd). This member of the auk 

 family differs in some respects in its habits from the two last- 

 named species, and also in its appearance, which is somewhat 

 droll. It never falls to the guns of sportsmen in the upper waters 

 of the estuary in winter when the razor-bill and guillemot are 

 familiar enough. According to the light-keepers it arrives from 

 the ioth to the 15th of April. It departs in August, and by the 

 end of that month scarcely a puffin is to be seen. Throughout 

 the summer the air is full of them. They are much more given 

 to exercising themselves on the wing than their congeners, and as 

 they nest all over the sides of the Craig, but not on the cliffs, they 

 are constantly under observation. They often admit of a close 

 approach, but when the spectator comes too near for their taste, 

 they launch into space and fly away with great rapidity. They go 

 off out to sea, and often seem to fly for the sake of flying. 

 Suitable portions of the Craig are in great part riddled with their 

 nesting holes. Any natural crevice is readily availed of, but in 

 the absence of such, little difficulty appears to be met with in 

 excavating holes. The ground is very open and loamy, and yields 

 readily to the exertions of the powerful little excavators. Whether 

 the hole be long or short, deep or shallow, concerns them not at 

 all, and the number of exits and entrances is likewise a matter of 

 indifference. The island is all over a huge talus slope, and this 

 obtains even where vegetation is rank. Holes are in consequence 

 numerous up to near the top, and even from the cairn which 

 marks its summit (11 14 feet) I have seen its egg taken. There is 

 really little or no attempt at nest-making, although fragments of 



