BIRDS AND INSECTS. 91 



Cavern. The fellow was in the habit of feeding his pets 

 with the flesh of the puffins and guillemots, which his 

 dog would catch for him in any desired quantity. 

 The osprey, though less common than the peregrine, 

 is not unfrequently seen fishing around the rocks. 



Of small birds, the chaffinch and the linnet are 

 common ; but, what is strange, the sparrow is not 

 found. The song-thrush is a constant resident, which 

 finds its favourite food in the pretty banded hedge 

 snail (Helix nemoralis) that is also common. The 

 song of the skylark we had heard saluting the sun on 

 each of the brilliant mornings that we had spent on 

 the island; and the pipit was hopping and flitting 

 about the rocks all round the coast. 



We had already noticed many insects, but were 

 hardly prepared to hear that an entomological gentle- 

 man, well known to us by reputation, had recently 

 obtained, during a visit of only a few days to the 

 island, more than three hundred species, the great 

 majority of which were beetles. 



The scenery of the western side is more magnificent 

 than that of the eastern. The precipices generally 

 attain a more stupendous height, and the prospect 

 seaward is an entire semicircle of unbounded water, 

 expanding to an immense width. Alternate indenta- 

 tions and projections in the line of coast, shallow coves 

 and lofty promontories, occur all along; and as the 

 visitor wanders by the margin of the cliff, he is con- 

 tinually charmed by newly-opening and ever-changing 

 views of the shore, ever-fresh combinations of the 



