Cliff-Birds, and their Colonies. 89 



tide, a Cormorant may stand on the 

 rocks, gorged after its fishing ; or 

 some Gulls may shelter from the 

 storm in an angle of the huge basalt 

 wall j or an Oyster-catcher may run 

 pattering over the strip of wet shingle 

 that lies in the bend of the bay. A 

 Falcon may wheel aloft, on the 

 outlook for a rabbit; or a company 

 of Starlings scurry shrieking into 

 crannies of the rock. 



But in so wide and stern a place 

 all these count as nothing ; and the 

 violence and desolation comes to 

 one's eye and ear as an almost 

 unbroken solitude. 



It is in late spring and in summer 

 one finds the cliff population at 

 home. 



Then the scene is strangely 

 different. The rocks, the high 

 cliffs, the whole shore is alive with 

 birds. The air is thronged with 

 hurrying wings. The blue waters are 

 dotted and dimpled by thousands of 



