42 CORVORANTS. 



presents all the colours imaginable. The poor people in 

 the neighbourhood get sands from it of a dozen different 

 colours; and, running them into a phial, make each colour 

 form a distinct ring, which has a very pretty effect : these 

 phials, so filled, they sell for a shilling each. 



We ascended the cliff, examined the lighthouse, pur- 

 chased a variety of eggs, and crossed the hill to the corvo- 

 rant colony : then, by lying down on our bellies on the turf, 

 we quietly peeped over the edge of the cliff, and obtained 

 an excellent view of the amiable company, from which a 

 stench arose almost enough to suffocate us. There were 

 young ones of all sizes, some almost ready to fly, some 

 only covered with down ; some nests had one or two eggs, 

 which are very small in proportion to the size of the bird, 

 and of a dirty white colour : many hens were sitting, and 

 here and there a solitary old cock (the crested corvorant 

 of Bewick) was perched on his triple support of tail and 

 feet, contemplating the expanse of ocean as motionless as 

 a statue. One of the party now determined on the ha- 

 zardous experiment of leaning over the cliff and shooting 

 them as they sat ; the other two remonstrated, but to no 

 purpose : so a line was formed ; the first held tight the 

 coat-tails of the shooter, the others locked hand in hand ; 

 thus making a dead weight of four against one, in case of 

 any propensity on the part of the first to lose his balance. 

 Thus arranged, the adventurer shouldered his double-bar- 

 relled, and, actually bending over the cliff, he pulled the 

 trigger. An old corvorant fell five hundred feet down the 

 cliff, upon the little narrow beach before mentioned ; ano- 

 ther trigger was pulled, and down went another corvorant. 

 The shooter then exchanged guns with him who held him 

 by the coat-tails, and with each barrel of this he also sent 



