WITH THE SEA BIRDS AT TENBY 231 



down the sheer cliffside by himself. After about a 

 hundred feet we reach a regular little tunnel in the 

 rock, penetrating to the depth of ten feet perhaps. 

 This tunnel is full of Guillemot's eggs, the majority, 

 however, being out of reach, but there are a few very 

 fine ones, mostly of the blue-green type, within reach. 

 As we said before, the Guillemots here seem to 

 favour niches and hollows of the cliffs for breeding 

 purposes, as the Razorbill almost invariably does. 

 But we can hear some stay-at-home, know-every- 

 thing, egotistical critic say, " Nonsense ! the Guillemot 

 always chooses an open site, a ledge on the cliffside." 

 But if the learned professor will follow us to the wild 

 sea cliffs of South Wales we will speedily convince 

 him to the contrary — that is, if he will venture his 

 precious neck on a hundred feet or so of hemp. 



But the enemy goes apace, and we are obliged — 

 but reluctantly — to return to our boat and Tenby. 

 In conclusion we may say that we think a Chough 

 was seen in the distance, but this is by no means a 

 certainty, for we were too far distant to distinguish 

 his coral red beak and legs, and the flight is very 

 Jackdaw-like ; but where the Daw is there will the 

 Choughs not be gathered together. 



Note. — Young Shags in their first plumage often 

 appear of a brownish colour, but the one we mention 

 above cannot have been immature, for observe the 

 date (May 27th), when at most young Shags would 

 only just be hatched, whilst many would still be in 

 the egg stage. 



