HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 43 



of the dovekies or black guillemots (Uria troila] that were 

 swimming about among the rocks or flying over the island 

 to a small bluff at the farther end of the harbour. I was 

 soon successful in bringing down some of these interesting 

 little birds, which I now met for the first time. Their 

 plumage is a sooty black all over, with the exception of a 

 white ring round the eyes ; their legs are of a bright 

 scarlet, and the inside of the mouth and gullet are of the 

 same colour; the bill is like that of a water-hen. In size 

 they are smaller, and in motion more active than their 

 aldermanic congener, the common or foolish guillemot. 

 When flying, their outstretched legs looked like a scarlet 

 tail, similar to that of a grey parrot. To tell the truth, 

 our eagerness to procure specimens arose from the belief 

 that we had met with a new variety. Rover, my black 

 curly-haired retriever, who had been my companion in 

 many a good day's snipe and pheasant shooting, was 

 perhaps as keenly interested as anyone, and took much 

 delight in retrieving the little black birds, doubtless 

 thinking it more like old times and much more agreeable 

 than dull life aboard ship. The birds showed little of the 

 proverbial stupidity of their genus, for, soon becoming 

 wary, they kept out of range, and shots occurring at longer 

 intervals, after a time ceased entirely. 



My attention was, however, soon centred in the little 

 pools left by the receding tide, each one a miniature 

 aquarium with a wealth of many-coloured shells and sea- 

 weeds, among which anemones of varied hues bloomed like 

 many-petalled flowers in these gardens of Neptune ; while 

 bright coloured starfish in changing shades from crimson to 

 scarlet, square in shape with slightly elongated corners, 

 clung limpet-like and motionless to the smooth grey rock, 

 each form of life, however humble, seeking to outvie the 

 other in producing a picture of beauty and colouring framed 

 by the grey rock of the island. While examining one of 

 these miniature seas so full of life and colour, a low growl 

 from the dog caused us to look up, and about thirty yards 



