THE COMMON GUILLEMOT. 543 



dentally moved by the parent bird when taking flight, it 

 turns as if on a pivot, but does not fall off. At this 

 season, the cliffs to which Guillemots resort are frequented 

 also by myriads of other sea-birds, such as Razor-bills, 

 Puffins, and Gulls, each congregating with its own species, 

 but never consorting with another. In Iceland, the Faroe 

 Islands, St. Kilda, the Orkneys, and many parts of the 

 coast of Scotland, the breeding season of these birds is the 

 harvest-time of the natives. Either by climbing from 

 below, or by being let down with ropes from above, the 

 egg-collectors invade the dominions of these literally 

 feathered " tribes." The Foolish Guillemots, rather than 

 leave their charge, suffer themselves to be knocked on the 

 head, to be netted, or noosed. Although stationed so close 

 to each other that a Foolish Guillemot alone could know 

 its own egg, they learn no wisdom from the fate of their 

 nearest neighbours. They are captured in detail for the 

 sake of their feathers ; and their eggs are taken for food. 

 In St. Kilda and, perhaps, elsewhere, young birds are 

 also taken in large numbers, and salted for consumption 

 in winter. Such as escape this systematic slaughter 

 flounder, as well as they are able, into the sea when nearly 

 fledged, or are carried thither by their foolish mothers. 

 There they learn to swim, to dive, and to fish, and about 

 the middle of August old and young disperse. 



Huge baskets of their eggs are sometimes brought to the 

 markets of seaport towns (I have seen them so far south 

 as Devonport), and sold for a price exceeding that of 

 domestic fowls, for they are much larger, and are said to 

 afford good eating. Wilson, in his "Voyage round the 

 Coasts of Scotland," says that the natives of St. Kilda 

 prefer the eggs of these, and other sea-fowl, " when sour ; 

 that is, when about ten or twelve days old, and just as the 

 incipient bird, when boiled, forms in the centre into a 

 thickish flaky matter, like milk." * 

 * Vol. ii. p. 45. 



