212 THE BIRD WATCHER 
have left them, thou whether the latter went by 
themselves or were conducted by their parents, who 
afterwards returned, I cannot tell. As the ledges, 
when I first came, were thick with guillemots, and as 
both sexes were represented, there being still a con- 
siderable amount of coquetry and dalliance, carried 
sometimes to an extreme length, there is no room 
for the hypothesis that the great majority had gone 
with their chicks, leaving only a few, who, for some 
reason, had not reared one. Had I got here to-day 
only 1 might have thought this, but, as it is, I should 
rather think that, full as the ledges were on my 
arrival, they were fuller still a few days earlier, and 
that the proportion of chicks was not much greater. 
The statement, therefore, which is made in works of 
authority, that, at the end of the breeding season, the 
young and old guillemots go off together for good, 
seems not to be in accordance with the facts of the 
case. Certainly it does not apply to the state of 
things here, in this particular year. 
The chick is again stretched out quite flat on the 
rock with its legs behind it, looking most funny. 
Well, funny as you are, I must leave you for a little, 
for I’ve the cramp, as well as lumbago, so 
I am gone, sir, and anon, sir, 
I will be with you again. 
And I am back at about seven, and find my little 
Sir still on the ledge, clasped by his mother’s wing. 
I almost expected he would be gone, but have still a 
