Mopern C.uirF-Dwr_ters 
as the egg-shells produced by all these birds that 
lay on the bare rock are of flinty hardness—a won- 
derful provision of Nature. 
Where isa) nice colony ‘of some seventy-five 
pairs or more of these birds, along with many hun- 
dreds of the Arctic Teri, also on ‘“ Matinicus 
Rock,” which locality I shall describe in another 
chapter. Here the Guillemots nest in great crevices 
or clefts of the main body of the rock and under 
separate boulders. Along with them are a few 
pairs of Pufhns, this being their southernmost 
breeding-ground on the Atlantic coast. Strangely 
enough, when I was there last, no one in the two 
families on the little island had ever seen a Puffin’s 
egg, though they had often tried to find one. 
There is no soil in which these ‘‘Sea Parrots” can 
burrow, so they crawl in under the largest rocks, 
and perhaps down under further layers, through 
winding passages. ‘ry my best, I, too, had to own 
myself beaten in this search. 
During one of my visits to this island I saw an 
albino “ Black’? Guillemot in the colony. At first 
it was out in the water with a flock of its darker 
brethren, acting and appearing just like the others, 
except torsits colour. Juater my, companion sur- 
prised it sitting upon the rocks. It flew from a 
spot only a few feet from him, giving him a splen- 
did view, patticularly of its back. As far as he 
could see, it was of a creamy white all over, save 
for some gray markings on the back. Anxious 
to secure this remarkable specimen, I borrowed 
a gun from one of the Keepers, and went in search 
of it, without, however, being able to catch sight 
89 
