GUILLEMOTS, RAZORBILL, ETC. 131 
Cornwall. The great number of local names by 
which the Guillemot is known round our coasts 
speak to its former abundance; Lavy, Marrock, 
Murre, Diver, and Willock—the latter applicable 
to the young—may be mentioned as a few of the 
best known. The birds congregate at their old 
accustomed haunts in Spring, with remarkable 
regularity, often punctually arriving on the same 
day for years in succession. At Heligoland, and 
certainly other places, Guillemots return to their 
nesting places from time to time during the winter, 
appearing in the morning for a little while, just as 
Rooks are wont to do at the nest trees. The 
Guillemot rears its young on the face of the lofty 
ocean cliffs, or on the flat tops of rock stacks. Cliffs 
with plenty of ledges and hollows are preferred, 
and in such chosen spots the birds crowd so closely 
that, at some stations, the wonder is how each 
individual can possibly find room to incubate its 
egg, or even secure a standing place in the general 
throng. There can be little doubt that in such 
crowded spots as the “Pinnacles,” many of the 
eggs never reach maturity. The Guillemot makes 
no nest of any kind, but lays its single large 
pear-shaped egg on any suitable ledge, or in any 
available hollow where it can be tolerably safe 
from toppling over into the sea. There are few 
more stirring sights in the bird-world than a large 
colony of Guillemots. I still retain the vivid 
impressions made upon my mind by the vast 
