50 THE BIRD WATCHER 
ever, they were first MPlored, if not discovered, by 
Mr. Hoseason (who has for years rented the island 
and done his best to protect the bird life upon it) 
in the spring of the preceding year, and they were at 
that time tenanted by numbers both of shags and 
rock-pigeons, who sat incubating their eggs on any 
suitable ledge or projection of the rock. Of the 
latter birds, to-day, there were none, but several of the 
former, though so late in the season, were sitting on 
eggs which, to judge by their whiteness, must have 
been but lately laid, and, no doubt, represented a 
second brood, whilst others, whose young were still 
with them on the nest, although full-fledged and 
almost as big as themselves, plunged, attended by 
these, into the water. The hollow sounds of splash 
after splash were echoed and re-echoed from sea to 
roof, and the air seemed filled with sepulchral croak- 
ings. It was easy to follow these birds as they swam 
midway between the surface of the water and the 
white pebbled floor of the cavern, and I was thus 
able to confirm my previous conviction that the feet 
alone are used by them in swimming, without any 
help from the wings, which are kept all the while 
closed. I have many times observed this before, but 
never so clearly or for such a length of time. 
The young birds, after diving, made for the nearest 
rock or ledge on to which they could scramble, and 
they were so unwilling again to take the water that 
some of them allowed themselves to be caught by 
us, though showing every sign of fear—indeed, of 
