WATER-FOWL. 203 



neath the feet of the spectator. The crow and the chough avoid 

 those frightful precipices ; they choose smaller heights, where they 

 are less exposed to the tempest ; it is the cormorant, the gannet, the 

 tarrock, and the terne, that venture to these dreadful retreats, and 

 claim an undisturbed possession. To the spectator from above, those 

 birds, though some of them are above the size of an eagle, seem 

 scarcely as large as a swallow, and their loudest screaming is scarcely 

 perceptible. 



But the generality of our shores are not so formidable. Though 

 they may rise two hundred fathoms above the surface, yet it often 

 happens that the water forsakes the shore at the departure of the tide, 

 and leaves a noble and delightful walk for curiosity on the beach. 

 Not to mention the variety of shells with which the sand is strewed, 

 the lofty rocks that hang over the spectator's head, and that seem but 

 just kept from falling, produce in him no unpleasing gloom.. If to 

 this be added the fluttering, the screaming, and the pursuits of my- 

 riads of water-birds, all either intent on the duties of incubation, or 

 roused at the presence of a stranger, nothing can compose a scene of 

 more peculiar solemnity. To walk along the shore when the tide is 

 departed, or to sit in the hollow of a rock when it is come in, atten- 

 tive to the various sounds that gather on every 'side, above and below, 

 may raise the mind to its highest and noblest exertions. The solemn 

 roar of the waves swelling into, and subsiding from, the vast caverns 

 beneath, the piercing note of the gull, the frequent chatter of the 

 guillemot, the loud note of the hawk, the scream of the heron, and the 

 hoarse deep periodical croaking of the cormorant, all unite to furnish 

 out the grandeur of the scene, and turn the mind to HIM who is the 

 essence of all sublimity. 



Yet it often happens that the contemplation of a sea-shore produces 

 ideas of an humbler kind, yet still not unpleasing. The various arts 

 of these birds to seize their prey, and sometimes to elude their pur- 

 suers, their society among each other, and their tenderness a'nd care 

 of their young, produce gentler sensations. It is ridiculous also now 

 and then to see their various ways of imposing upon each other. It 

 is common enough, for instance, with the arctic gull to pursue the 

 lesser gulls so long that they drop their excrements through fear, 

 which the hungry hunter quickly gobbles up before it ever reaches 

 the water. In breeding, too, they have frequent contests ; one bird 

 who has no nest of her own, attempts to dispossess another, and put 

 herself in the place. This often happens among all the gull kind : 

 and I have seen the poor bird, thus displaced by her more powerfu 

 invader, sit near the nest in pensive discontent, while the other 

 seemed quite comfortable in her new habitation. Yet this place of 

 pre-eminence is not easily obtained ; for the instant the invader goes 

 to snatch a momentary sustenance, the other enters upon her own, 

 and always ventures another battle before she relinquishes the just- 

 ness of her claim. The contemplation of a cliff thus covered with 

 hatching birds, affords a very agreeable entertainment ; and as they 

 sit upon the ledges of the rocks, one above another, with their white 

 breasts forward, the whole groupe has not unaptly been con- pared tc 

 an apotiiccary's shop. 



