THE GUILLEMOT. 407 



thirty yards from the pond to which the swan had retired. He never 

 even uttered his wonted cry, nor so much as a sound, to indicate 

 what he felt within. The silence which this bird maintained to the 

 last, tends to show that the dying song of the swan is nothing but a 

 fable, the origin of which is lost in the shades of antiquity. Its 

 repetition can be of no manner of use, save as a warning to ornitho- 

 logists not to indulge in the extravagances of romance a propensity 

 not altogether unknown in these our latter times. 



THE GUILLEMOT. 



THE immense range of perpendicular rocks, lashed by old ocean's 

 briny surge, offers a choice and favourable retreat to myriads of 

 wild fowl, from far-famed Flamborough Head to Bempton, and thence 

 to Buckton and Speaton, and onwards to the Bay of Filey. He 

 who wishes to examine the nidification of these birds ought to be at 

 this part of the sea-coast early in the month of May. About five 

 miles from Bridlington Quay is the village of Flamborough, chiefly 

 inhabited by fishermen ; and a little farther on is a country inn, 

 called the North Star, which has good accommodation for man and 

 horse ; but a lady would feel herself ill at ease in it, on account of 

 the daily visits of the fishermen, those hardy sons of Neptune, who 

 stop at it on their way to the ocean, and again on their return. Here 

 they rendezvous, to fortify their interior with a pint or two of com 

 fort, and to smoke a pipe, by way of compensation for the many 

 buffets which they ever and anon receive in the exercise of their 

 stormy and nocturnal calling. 



On the bare ledges of these stupendous cliffs, the guillemot lays its 

 egg, which is exposed to the face of heaven, without any nest what- 

 ever ; but the razorbills and puffins lay theirs in crannies, deep and 

 difficult of access. Here, too, the peregrine falcon breeds, and here 

 the raven rears its young ; while the rock pigeon and the starling 

 enter the fissures of the precipice, and proceed with their nidification, 



