THE ISLE OF BIRDS 113 



off the ledge and smashed on the rocks below. 

 But in the excitement its absence was not 

 noticed. Meanwhile the combatants were 

 making things most uncomfortable for their 

 nearest neighbours, so these presently were 

 dragged into the fight. The unfortunate 

 eggs began dropping over the ledge. In- 

 stantly the great saddle-backs, from the noisy 

 colony higher up the cliff, swept down to gather 

 in the j uicy harvest. They loved eggs, whether 

 fresh or half brooded. Screaming joyously, 

 they thronged the air just below the scene of 

 the quarrel, which still went on with zest. 

 Some of the tumbling eggs were stabbed 

 cleverly and sucked in mid-air as they fell, 

 while others were devoured or sucked up, 

 according to the stage of development of their 

 contents, on the rocks below. So long did the 

 foolish auks continue their quarrel, so unusual 

 was the rain of eggs, so wild was the screaming 

 of the delighted banqueters below the ledge, 

 that presently a number of the brooding 

 saddle-backs those who should have stayed 

 by their charges to guard them, whatever their 

 consorts might be doing were seduced from 

 their too tame responsibilities. Standing up 

 in their dizzy nests most of which held either 

 two or three muddy coloured eggs, scrawled 

 with markings of dull maroon they stretched 



