i86 BIRD WATCHING 



having gradually eliminated the source of this danger. 

 But natural selection may have acted in another 

 direction, which would have been still more conducive 

 to the safety of the chick. I observed that the latter 

 — even when, as I judged by its tininess, it had only 

 been quite recently hatched — was as alert and as well 

 able to move about as a young chicken or partridge ; 

 but whilst possessing all the power, it appeared to 

 have little will to do so. Its lethargy — as shown by 

 the way in which, even when a good deal older, it 

 would sit for hours without moving from under the 

 mother — struck me as excessive ; and it would 

 certainly seem that on a bare narrow ledge, to fall 

 from which would be certain death, chicks of a 

 lethargic disposition would have an advantage over 

 others who were fonder of running about. If we 

 suppose that a certain number of chicks perished 

 even amongst those whose parents always stood 

 between them and the sheer edge, we can understand 

 both the one and the other step towards security 

 having been brought about, either successively or 

 side by side with each other. 



From the foregoing it would appear that the young 

 guillemot is fed with fish which are brought straight 

 from the sea in the parent's bill, and not — as in the 

 case of the gulls — disgorged for them after having 

 been first swallowed. It is, however, a curious fact 

 that the fish when thus brought in is, sometimes at 

 any rate, headless. The reason of this I do not know, 

 but with the aid of the glasses I have made quite 

 certain of it, and each time it appeared as though the 

 head had been cleanly cut off. Moreover, on alight- 

 ing on the ledge the bird always has the fish (a 



