THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 35 



entirely confined to the Pinnacles four flat-topped rocks, 

 each some twenty to thirty feet square, separatee! by a 

 chasm about twenty feet wide from the Staples. The tops 

 of the Pinnacles during the breeding season are literally 

 covered with about as many guillemots as can find standing 

 room, each bird brooding its single egg. A few razorbills 

 also occur, along with guillemots. The Pinnacles are 

 amongst the best places in Great Britain or Ireland for 

 studying the habits of the guillemots at short range (i.e., 

 about twenty feet) distance. 



II. 



Mr. Stanley Duncan, Hon. Secretary of the Wild 

 Fowling Association, in his interesting article on "British 

 Wild Fowling and Pleasure Resorts," says: 



"On journeying south from Holy Island our first place 

 to stay, if desirous of shooting along Fenhamslakes and 

 Budle Bay, is Elwick, situated about two miles from the 

 north-west corner of Budle Bay and a mile from Fenham- 

 slake. Along this shore a shoulder gun wild fowler would 

 find, in suitable weather, many excellent fowl worthy of 

 much trouble to obtain. 



Wigeon are usually exceedingly numerous, especially 

 during hard weather, and mallards are often in as large 

 droves. Sometimes these birds flock upon the stake like 

 clouds or swarms of bees. To see them in such large 

 numbers is worth to a wild fowler all the time spent if one 

 should be so extremely unfortunate as to bag none, though 

 this would rarely happen to an average shot staying in 

 this neighbourhood for a few days when the birds are there. 



Brent, too, are frequenters of this coast, at times in 

 myriads. The main portion of the brent are shot by 

 the punters, who, by the way, are in nearly all places, the 

 wild fowlers securing the "cream of the fowl." As I take 

 it, the true shoulder gun wild fowler is not so desirous of 

 obtaining large numbers of fowl as a warm and jolly piece 



D 2 



