402 THE PUFFIN. 



mode of taking them, which does not seem confined to our 

 own country, will fully prove. 



"In Iceland," says Dr. Henderson, in his missionary travels to 

 that island, "they are caught by means of a hook fastened to the 

 end of a stick : and what is singular, when one is dragged out, his 

 companions take hold of him, and endeavour to retain him ; by which 

 means they are often caught to the number of three or four at a time." 



"In Norway," says Colonel Brooke, "Puffins breed in great 

 numbers on the rocks, and the mode of catching them is precisely 

 the same as that adopted in the northern parts of Great Britain, with 

 the exception that a dog is trained to the sport. The Puffins sitting 

 together in prodigious numbers in the deep holes and clefts of the 

 highest rocks, one of these little dogs is sent in, which seizes the 

 first by the wing. This, to prevent being carried away, lays hold 

 with its strong beak of the bird next to it, which in like manner 

 seizes its neighbour, and the dog continuing to draw them out, an 

 extraordinary string of these birds fall into the hands of the fowler. 

 They are in Norway taken for their feathers, which are valuable.'' 



Social as they appear, and attentive to their young, there yet 

 seems to be a curious exception occasionally occurring towards 

 the close of the breeding season, when, on their departure, the 

 broods of the latter hatches are left a prey for the Peregrine 

 Falcon, who watches at the mouth of the holes, and seizes the 

 poor starving nestlings, when compelled through hunger to 

 quit their inner chambers, thus escaping the lingering pains of 

 famine by a more violent and immediate death. 



With respect to the Razor-bills and Guillemots, we shall 

 again refer our readers to the same rock-scenery of the South 

 Stack, already noticed in our observations on Gulls, where, as 

 on a stage of Nature's theatre, we have often watched their 

 motions from the verge of a projecting little promontory, or 

 arm of rock, immediately facing a precipice beyond the reach 

 of human intrusion, intersected by innumerable fissures, 

 crevices, ledges, and shelves, admirably adapted for tenants 

 requiring such accommodations, and where, accordingly, an army 

 of Razor-bills and Guillemots have taken up their position, 

 almost, though not entirely, to the exclusion of the Gulls ; and 

 therein, as if conscious of their safety (it being an inviolable 

 rule never to disturb them),, they carry on their usual occupa- 



