64 DISPOSITION TO SECURE A TERRITORY 



make it conspicuous. For example, there is a 

 well-marked variety of the Common Guillemot, 

 the Ringed or Bridled Guillemot of science, 

 distinguished by an unusual development of 

 white round the eye and along the furrow 

 behind it. One such individual I was fortunate 

 in discovering upon a crowded cliff, and, as in 

 the case of the Lapwing with the broken 

 leg or the Yellow Bunting with the injured 

 foot, the identity of the bird was beyond dis- 

 pute, and one could observe that it appropriated 

 to itself a particular position upon a particular 

 ledge. 



Guillemots and Razorbills return at intervals 

 to the breeding stations early in the season, and 

 these visits are repeated with growing frequency 

 until the birds are finally established. I have 

 witnessed these periodic returns during March 

 in the south of England, and during April in 

 the north-west of Ireland, and I am informed 

 that in the latter district such visits may occur 

 as early as February. Gatke, who had ample 

 opportunity of observing the birds in Heligoland, 

 puts their return at an even earlier date. " They 

 visit their breeding places," he says, "in flocks 

 of thousands at the New Year, often even as 

 early as December, as though they wanted to 

 make sure of their former haunts being well 

 preserved and ready for their reception." Such 

 visits, however, are irregular in occurrence ; the 

 birds arrive, and, after spending a short time 

 upon the ledges, disappear. And since there is 

 not the same evidence in their coming and going 



