42 LUNDY ISLAND. 



are indebted for their first introduction to the sea to the 

 parental care displayed in a very interesting manner. 

 They take to the water and fish for themselves long 

 before they are able to fly ; and as they would inevit- 

 ably be killed on the sharp points of rock if they 

 attempted to fall or leap down, the parent invites its 

 offspring to climb on its broad back, and thus carries 

 it down. This we did not see ; but we were \yitnesses, 

 in plenty of instances, of the prompt and ample sup- 

 ply of food brought by the industry of the parent bird, 

 either to its sitting mate or to its unfledged young. 

 The air here, as on the other side, was filled with 

 birds on the wing ; and the sea below, not amidst the 

 boiling eddies of the rocks, but outside, was even 

 more densely crowded with swimmers ; and ever and 

 anon one would shoot by us with several little bands 

 of silver depending from its beak, the fruit of its suc- 

 cessful efforts. These are invariably carried, no mat- 

 ter how many they may be, transversely, held fast by 

 the head, the body hanging down. When we re- 

 membered that each fish must be caught separately, 

 we were at a loss to understand how the first captured 

 could be retained in the beak in this orderly manner, 

 or, indeed, how held at all, while another was seized. 

 Would not the first fall in the act of opening the 

 mandibles a second time ? One of the party, with 

 his fowling-piece, brought down a guillemot, return- 

 ing with prey, and an examination appeared to me to 

 resolve the difficulty. Ten little sandlaunce this ill- 

 fated mother was bringing to her chick, when the 



