WATCHING SHAGS AND GUILLEMOTS 191 



Such preening under such circumstances must, one 

 would think, spring from a powerful incentive, and 

 it is, I believe, chiefly when annoyed by insects that 

 the birds preen themselves, though whether their 

 efforts are actually to free themselves of these, or 

 only to allay the irritation by scratching, I am not 

 quite sure. But I noticed that a bird would often 

 bend down its head, and with the extreme tip of its 

 finely - pointed bill appear minutely to explore the 

 surface of its webbed feet — and further, that when 

 the partner of a bird doing this was beside him, it 

 would become most interested, and do its best to 

 assist him in the matter. One may suppose that 

 the ledge — which is, of course, coated with a layer 

 of guano — is covered with these pests, and that they 

 often crawl over the bird's feet, and so ascend on to 

 the body. If the skin of the feet were sensitive, their 

 owner would at once know when this was the case, 

 and with its keen eyesight and stiletto bill might 

 guard itself fairly well, as long as it only stood. As, 

 however, all the birds constantly sit flat on the rock, 

 even when not incubating, the searching of the feet 

 can be of little or no real importance to them. It 

 is very interesting and has a very human appearance 

 (not so much in regard to the particular act as the 

 careful look and manner and the attitudes assumed) 

 to see two birds thus helping to clean each other's 

 feet, as I think must here be the case. When they 

 nibble and preen each other they may, as a rule, 

 I think, be rightly said to cosset and caress, the 

 expression and pose of the bird receiving the benefit 

 being often beatific, and the enjoyment being, no 

 doubt, of the nature of that which a parrot receives 



