Popular SJtcttonary of &mmatclr $aturr. 293 



" As I was lowered down, the grandeur I 

 and sublimity of the scene beggared all de- | 

 scription, and amply repaid any little un- I 

 i pleasant sensations which arose on the score 

 I of danger. The sea was roaring at the base 

 1 of this stupendous wall of rocks ; thousands i 

 and tens of thousands of wild-fowl were in I 

 an instant on the wing : the kittiwakes and j 

 jackdaws rose in circling flight ; while most ! 

 of the Guillemots, razorbills, and puffins ! 

 left the ledges of the rocks in a straight and i 

 downward line, with a peculiarly quick mo- i 

 tion of the pinions, till they plunged into 

 the ocean. It was easy to distinguish the j 

 puffins from the razorbills in their descent : ' 

 these presented a back of a uniformly dark j 

 colour, those had a faint white diagonal line ! 

 running across the wiugs. The nests of the | 

 kittiwakes were close to each other, on every j 

 part of the rocks which was capable of hold- 

 ing them ; and they were so numerous as 

 totally to defy any attempt to count them. : 

 On the bare and level ledge of the rocks, 

 often not more than six inches wide, lay the 

 eggs of the Guillemots : some were placed 

 parallel with the range of the shelf, others 

 nearly so, and others with their blunt and 

 sharp ends indiscriminately pointing to the 

 sea. By no glutinous matter, nor any foreign 

 body whatever, were they affixed to the rock: 

 bare they lay, and unattached, as on the 

 palm of your outstretched hand. You might > 

 see nine or ten, or sometimes twelve old 

 Guillemots in a line, so near to each other 

 that their wings seemed to touch those of 

 their neighbours ; and when they flew off at 

 your approach, you would see as many eggs 

 as you had counted birds sitting on the 

 ledge. The eggs vary in size and shape and 

 colour beyond all belief. Some are large, 

 others small, some exceedingly sharp at one 

 end, and others nearly rotund. The rock- 

 climbers assure you that the Guillemot, 

 when undisturbed, never lays more than 

 one egg ; but if that be taken away, she will 

 lay another, and so on. They also assure 

 you that when the young Guillemot gets to 

 a certain size, it manages to climb upon the 

 back of the old bird, which conveys it down 

 to the ocean. Having carried a good tele- 

 scope with me, through it I saw numbers of 

 young Guillemots, diving and sporting on 

 the sea, quite unable to fly ; and I observed 

 others on the ledges of the rocks, as I went , 

 down among them, in such situations that, 

 had they attempted to fall into the waves 

 beneath, they would have been killed by 

 striking against the projecting points of the 

 intervening sharp and rugged rocks : where- I 

 fore I concluded that the information of the 

 rock-climbers was to be depended upon ; i 

 and I more easily gave credit to it, because ; 

 I myself have seen an old swan sailing on 

 the water with her young ones upon her 

 back, about a week after they had been \ 

 hatched. 



" He who rejoices when he sees all nature 

 smiling around him, and who takes an iu- j 

 terest in contemplating the birds of heaven 

 as they wing their way before him, will feel 

 sad at heart on learning the unmerited per- 

 secution to which these harmless sea-fowl 

 are exposed. Parties of sportsmen, from all 



quarters of the kingdom, visit Flamborough 

 and its vicinity during the summer months, 

 and spread sad devastation all around them. 

 No profit attends the carnage ; the poor un- 

 fortunate birds serve merely as marks to 

 aim at, and they are generally left where 

 they fall. Did these heartless gunners re- 

 flect, but for one moment, how many inno- 

 cent birds their shot destroys ; how many 

 fall disabled on the wave, there to linger for 

 hours, perhaps for days, in torture and in 

 anguish ; did they but consider how many 

 helpless young ones will never see again 

 their parents coming to the rock with food ; 

 they would, methinks, adopt some other 

 plan to try their skill, or cheat the lingering 

 hour." 



GUINEA-FOWL, or PINTADO. (Nu- 

 mida mcleuifris.) The Guinea-fowls are na- 

 tives of Africa and its adjacent islands : their 

 manners are similar to those of the domestic 

 poultry, and their food the same. This spe- 

 cies is bigger than a large cock : the head is 

 bare of feathers, and covered with a naked 

 bluish skin ; on the top is a callous conical 

 protuberance : and on each side of the upper 

 mandible, at the base, hangs a loose wattle, 

 which in the female is red, and in the male 

 bluish : the upper part of the neck is almost 

 naked, being very thinly furnished with a 

 few straggling hairy feathers : the skiu is of 

 a bluish ash : the lower part of the neck is 



GUINEA-FOWL. (NOMIDA MELEAGRIS,) 



covered with feathers of a purple hue ; but 

 the general colour of the plumage is dark 

 bluish gray, sprinkled with round wliite 

 spots of different sizes, on the whole of the 

 feathers, the breast only excepted. which is 

 of a uniform gray blue : the greater quills 

 are white ; and the rest are similar to the 

 upper parts of the plumage, spotted and 

 longitudinally barred with white. Its wings 

 are short, and the tail pendulous, or pointing 

 downwards. 



This bird is now common in our poultry 

 yards, but from the circumstance of the 

 young ones being difficult to rear, they are 

 not bred in numbers at all equal to those of 

 the domestic poultry. The female lays 

 many eggs in a season, which she frequently 

 secretes till she has produced her young 

 brood. The egg is smaller than that of the 

 common hen, and of a rounder shape ; in 

 colour reddish white, obscurely freckled with 

 a darker colour ; and is delicious eating. 

 The Guinea-fowl is a restless and clamorous 

 bird : its voice is harsh and unpleasant, con- 



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