H2 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



mouthful ; while the too-successful marauder, 

 bearing by far the largest share of the prize, 

 beat vigorously aloft through the screaming 

 gulls, who would have tried to rob him had 

 they dared. Rising strongly above them 

 he headed for the flat ledge, a little inland, 

 where he and his dusky mate had made their 

 nest. 



Meanwhile, on the neighbouring cliff-face, 

 had just occurred one of those incidents which 

 were for ever stirring up excitement among 

 the colonies of the auks and the saddle-backs. 

 It began in the usual way. Each pair of auks, 

 it must be remembered, has but one egg, 

 which is laid, with no pretence of a nest, on 

 the bare narrow ledge. As these eggs lie side 

 by side along the rock, just far enough apart 

 for the parents to brood them, and as they all 

 look amazingly alike, sometimes the owners 

 themselves get mixed up as to the identity of 

 their speckled property. In this instance two 

 mothers, on a crowded shelf some forty feet 

 above the sea, claimed the same egg, and both 

 insisted on brooding it at the same time. 

 With curious, strident grumblings, deep in 

 their throats, they struggled over it. Their 

 mates, chancing both to return from their 

 fishing at this moment, joined vigorously in 

 the discussion. Xhe egg was promptly rolled 



