ROCKBIRDS. 



for miles and miles, blackening the air like swarms 

 of bees : and what with the screaming of the gulls, 

 the hollow croaking of the cormorants, and the various 

 noises of the penguin tribe, you hear the caverned 

 rocks in constant echo with discordant sounds. 



On getting nearer, you will see the main body of 

 the wi Hocks and puffins standing, like ranks of sol- 

 diers, along the chalky chasms, but at such a height, 

 as not only to be out of shot, but indifferent to the 

 sound of a gun. Your plan, therefore, should be to 

 let some one start, so as to be on the heights by the 

 time you have arrived below. Having anchored your 

 boat at a distance, where the birds sufficiently lower 

 their flight, make a signal to the person above ; who, 

 by letting down about a hundred yards of line, with 

 a piece of wood, a stone, or a bell at the end of it, 

 will immediately put their armies to the rout, and 

 keep them constantly pouring dow r n upon the sea. 

 To kill these birds, you must rather pick your shots, 

 and fire well before them, as they fly with great 

 rapidity, take a very hard blow, and your eye is apt 

 to be deceived in distance, after gazing on a back- 

 ground of chalk, which is, perhaps, two hundred yards 

 in height. After all, however, the rockbirds will not 

 always come near enough for you to make any ex- 

 traordinary number of shots without missing, unless 

 you descend in a basket, &c. (as I mentioned, when 

 speaking of cormorants), in the manner by which 

 the men collect their eggs, and gather samphire. 



I remember, when a party went to shoot willocks 



