INTRODUCTION. xxix 



the hard sandstone reef of Filey Brig projects into the sea. 

 The shores are here composed of sandy beaches. On the 

 diluvial cliffs near Filey a few Herring Gulls breed annually. 



Some distance S.S.E. of Filey the chalk deposits of England 

 reach their northern termination in a lofty range of tide-washed 

 mural precipices, the well-known cliffs of Speeton, Buckton, 

 Bempton, and Flamborough, the most extensive and densely 

 inhabited breeding resort of sea-fowl in England. The 

 earliest known account of this " loomery " was written by 

 Thomas Pennant, who, in the course of his journey to Scotland, 

 visited Flamborough on 3rd July 1769, and thus recorded his 

 impressions of that place : " Went to Flamborough Head . . 

 . . Put myself under the direction of William Camidge, ciceroni 

 of the place, who conducted me to a little creek, at that time 

 covered with fish, a fleet of cobles having just put in. Went 

 out in one of these little boats to view the Head, coasting it 

 for upwards of two miles. The cliffs are of a tremendous 

 height, and amazing grandeur ; beneath are several vast 

 caverns, some closed at the end, others are pervious, formed 

 with a natural arch, giving a romantic passage to the boat, 

 different from that we entered. In some places the rocks 

 are insulated, are of a pyramidical figure, and soar up to a vast 

 height ; the bases of most are solid, but in some pierced 

 thro', and arched ; the color of all these rocks is white, from 

 the dung of the innumerable flocks of migratory birds, which 

 quite cover the face of them, filling every little projection, 

 every little hole that will give them leave to rest ; multitudes 

 swarmed in the air, and almost stunned us with the variety 

 of their croaks and screams ; I observed among them 

 corvorants, shags in small flocks, guillemots, a few black 

 guillemots very shy and wild, auks, puffins, Kittiwakes,* 

 and herring gulls " ("A Tour in Scotland," 1771, pp. 14-15). 

 Here Guillemots, Puffins, Razorbills, and Kittiwakes breed 

 in countless multitudes, the Guillemots being by far the 

 most numerous ; and there are also a pair or two of Herring 

 Gulls. In a cave in Buckton cliff called " The Cote " the 



* Called here Petrels. " Br. Zool. Supplt." (Tab. xxiii., p. 26). 



