UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 161 



combat they are easily caught ; the man twist- 

 ing the necks of as many as he chooses, and 

 thrusting their heads into his belt eight hun- 

 dred are sometimes taken by this method in one 

 night. 



" There is a loose skin under their bill, in 

 which these birds can carry four or five herrings 

 at a time, besides sprats, which the young pick 

 out with their bill, through the mouth of the pa- 

 rent, as with a pair of pincers. When the gan- 

 nets observe a shoal of herrings, they close their 

 wings to their sides and precipitate themselves 

 head-foremost into the water, dropping just like a 

 stone. Their eye is so exact in doing this, that 

 they are sure to rise with a fish in their mouth. 



" I must also mention the Foolish Guillemot. 

 A rock-man descends at night by his rope to 

 the ledge of a precipice, where he fixes himself, 

 and tying round him a piece of white linen, awaits 

 the approach of the bird, who, mistaking the cloth 

 for a rock, alights on it, and is killed imme- 

 diately. This silly bird lays but one egg, and 

 without any nest to protect it : so that when dis- 

 turbed, she frequently tumbles it down the rocks 

 as she rises." 



.' I have been labouring most diligently 

 at my garden, and many a time did I wish that 

 my Mamma and Marianne could have seen 

 how much the indolent Bertha, as she used to 



