YOUNG CARRIED BY THE OLD. 367 



life. During this time they are fed with fish, &c. 

 by the parent birds, but they are still unable to 

 use their wings so as to leave their dangerous 

 place and dabble in the waters beneath. Mr. 

 Waterton says, in his account of his visit to the 

 rock-bird-breeding localities about Flamborough 

 Head, " the men there assured me, that when the 

 young guillemot gets to a certain size, it manages 

 to climb upon the back of the old bird, which 

 then conveys it down to the ocean." Having 

 carried a good telescope with him, he saw 

 numbers of young guillemots diving and sport- 

 ing in the sea, but quite unable to fly; and 

 he observed others on the edges of the rocks, 

 as he went down among them, in such situa- 

 tions, that, had they attempted to fall into the 

 waves beneath, they would have been killed by 

 striking against the projecting points of the in- 

 tervening sharp and rugged rocks ; wherefore he 

 concluded that the reports of the rock-climbers 

 were true. 



Mr. Jesse has some singular remarks on the 

 same subject namely, the carrying of the young 

 by the parent bird. He says that some Cape 

 geese, which had nests in the old oak pollards, 



