The Birds of Pembrokeshire. 121 
than they were on those turned towards the land, although even 
on these the numbers were astounding. Like the other diving 
birds that pursue the fish beneath the water, the Guillemots use 
their wings, and may be said to fly under the waves. One is 
able to form some idea of the vast myriads of fish the seas 
around our coasts must contain, when we consider the millions 
of birds that are daily feeding upon them. No amount of 
netting by fishermen is likely to produce any impression upon 
the shoals of fish ; the only injury that man can inflict upon 
them is in dredging the spawning beds. If only these could be 
left in quiet, there would be no danger of our fish supply becom- 
ing exhausted, however persistent and united the attacks made 
upon it by larger fish, seals, birds, and fishermen. The variety 
called the Bridled Guillemot (once held to be a distinct species, 
and called Lomvia lacrymans), that has a white line curving a 
short distance down the neck on either side from the eye, 
occurs occasionally among the other Guillemots, but is rare ; 
Mr. Mathias includes it in his list. On each of our visits to the 
breeding stations of the birds, we have kept a close watch for 
it, but among the thousands of Guillemots we have closely 
approached on their ledges, we have never succeeded in detect- 
ing one. The eggs of the Common Guillemot are well known 
for their beauty, and one or two are generally carried away by 
visitors to the Stacks as “ curios.” Some very beautiful varieties 
may be picked out from among them, and we are not a little 
proud of our own series procured from Ramsey and Lundy. 
The farmers around St. David’s are said to feed their calves in 
the summer with a custard made from the “ Eligoogs’”’ eggs 
obtained on Ramsey. In the winter time we have seen numerous 
Common Guillemots far up the Bristol Channel, off Clevedon 
and Portishead, and often when we have been crossing the ferry 
to Port Skewet, in company with Razorbills. 
(BLACK GUILLEMOT, Uria grylle.—A century ago there were a 
few Black Guillemots resident on the Pembrokeshire coast. 
Colonel Montagu, writing in his Ornithological Dictionary in 
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