THE BIRDS OK BEMPTOX CLIFFS. II 



ledge for twelve and fourteen successive years, and I have 

 specimens of such eggs extending over a period of three 

 and four years. Even shooting birds from the ledges, as we 

 have seen, does not deter the survivors from coming back 

 to the very same spot. A well-marked egg is found year 



Fig. 5. — Cliffs near Hateley Corner. 



after year on the same ledge of rock as long as the bird 

 lives, unless a fall of rock occurs, in which case all desert 

 that neighbourhood. 



There is, however, a deplorable carelessness among the 

 birds in rolling their eggs off the ledges. Perhaps it is 

 because the egg rests upon the web of the feet, that whenever 



