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to remark the wondrous principle of adaptation, which enables the 
frightened Grebe after its plunge to progress with the aid of its wings 
as rapidly beneath the surface as the Coot with drooping legs over 
it. Instances almost without end of the delight which the study of 
birds affords might be cited ; but I will now say a few words on their 
uses as articles of diet. 
As a rule, birds are far less utilized in this country than on the 
Continent, where even the smallest are eaten, the Robin, the Wry- 
neck, and the Wren not excepted, as a visit to the markets of Paris 
and Rome will testify, the sylvan Beccaficos and the Ortolans being 
specially regarded as bonnes bouches. 
Among the water-birds, the Scoters and other diving ducks, being 
regarded as partly fish and partly fowl, are allowed to be eaten on 
fast days, and are therefore in great request; and Mr. Augustus Smith 
of Scilly tells me that the French sailors who land on those islands 
frequently ask his permission to kill Cormorants and Shags, consider- 
ing them, as they do, the best of fowl. The Gannet is largely eaten in 
the northern parts of the kingdom, while the Fulmar not only forms the 
principal diet of the St.-Kildan, but its feathers constitute his bed, 
and its oil furnishes him with medicine and the means of light. The 
late Mr. John Macgillivray states that the eggs ‘‘ are much esteemed 
by the natives, who gratify their partiality by robbing all the nests in 
the month of May, and apparently trust to the bird laying a second 
time ;” and, adds Mr. Robert Gray, “the young is valued more than 
all the other tribes of birds taken together; it may be said to be their 
staff of life. The 12th of August, if a notable day on the moors, is 
more so on the rocks of St. Kilda; for it is the harvest of the people, 
who are aware that it will only last eight days; and therefore sleep 
itself is banished for this space, seeing that the millions that may be 
left on the eighth day after the 12th are sure to be off to their own 
fairy world for a season. The number killed in this one week may 
be from eighteen to twenty thousand.” In a valuable paper on the 
Solan Goose or Gannet by Dr. R. O. Cunningham, published in ‘ The 
Ibis’ for 1866, it is stated, on the authority of the celebrated Harvey, 
that ‘the young, when they attain the magnitude of the domestic 
Goose, are sweet and fit for eating; but the flesh of the old birds is 
hard, lean, and dry.” And Ray in his ‘Itineraries’ mentions that 
‘the young ones are esteemed a choice dish in Scotland. As the bird 
feeds upon mackrel and herring, the flesh of the young smells and 
tastes strong of these fish.” 
At the present time, according to Dr. Cunningham, “from one to 
two thousand of the young birds are killed annually for sale, and 
after being plucked obtain a price of from sixpence to a shilling each ; 
at one time they figured at the tables of the Scottish monarchs, and 
more recently were esteemed by the citizens of Edinburgh and other 
towns, being roasted and eaten as a relish before dinner. Now I be- 
lieve their consumption is chiefly limited to the lower classes ; and I 
have been informed on good authority that, after being parboiled and 
having had their legs cut off, they are sold in considerable numbers 
to the Irish peasants who come oyer to Scotland at harvest time.” 
