196 BIRD WATCHING 



what we do, though we make so much more pother 

 about it. But it has a funny effect to see it all going 

 on — like a " picture in little " — on a ledge of the 

 bare rock. 



If guillemots are watched closely, one may be 

 noticed now and again to scrape with its beak for 

 some time at the ledge where it is lying, opening and 

 closing its mandibles upon it. Every now and then — 

 as I make it out — it encloses a small object between 

 them, which must, I think, be a piece of the rock, and 

 with a qui^k jerk of the head sideways and upwards, 

 swallows this. This, then, is how guillemots procure 

 the small stones which are, no doubt, necessary to 

 them for digestive purposes. The great mass of the 

 rock forming the island is sedimentary, and in a more 

 or less crumbling state, much of it, indeed, quite rotten 

 and dangerous to trust to. 



I will conclude this slight picture of life on a ledge 

 with a few lines from my notes, as taken during that 

 short period which, in summer, best answers to the 

 coming on of night and dawn of morning here in 

 England. 



" 10.40 P.M. Some dozen birds out of about thirty 

 that I can see appear to be roosting. The kittiwakes 

 are more silent than in broad day, though there is 

 a burst of clamour now and again. 



" 10.56. There is less activity now, but few birds 

 seem thoroughly asleep. Many stand, and some 

 occasionally walk about and flap their wings. One 

 has just flown off the ledge, but no others are doing 

 so, nor are any arriving upon it. The general scene 

 is much quieter, and so with the kittiwakes. The 

 ledge now, at past eleven, is very quiet, though the 



