A Hebridean Island and its Birds 



is at times darkened by them as they swim and bathe them- 

 selves of a summer morning. Most consequential of birds 

 is the puffin. 



He always seems to me to resemble a dignified and re- 

 spectable club-man— unruffled, unperturbed, and taking life, 

 which he finds a pleasant thing, with rare philosophy and 

 calm. But for all that, life to the puffin is full of dangers. 

 Greater black-backed gulls at times lie in wait for him at the 

 entrance to his nesting-burrow and pounce on the luckless 

 bird as he emerges, either swallowing him whole or — a 

 more terrible fate — disembowelling him, and having 

 devoured the entrails leaving the victim, still alive, to perish 

 miserably. 



With the coming of May there arrive at their nesting- 

 cliffs many graceful kittiwakes, most charming and contented 

 of all gulls. In the kittiwake there seems implanted a curi- 

 ously strong love for its nest. For weeks before they have 

 commenced to lay the birds sit or stand contentedly upon 

 the platforms of the nests of previous seasons, and likewise 

 in late summer, when the young have left the nest, or when, 

 perhaps, some misfortune has robbed the kittiwakes of their 

 eggs or brood, they still haunt their nest, standing, the pair 

 of them, for hours at their home with every sign of happiness 

 and contentment. 



To the island, before May is many days old, there also 

 come many lesser black-backed gulls. Unlike their larger 

 relatives — the greater black backs — these gulls are summer 

 visitors only to the Hebridean Islands, and with the approach 

 of autumn make their way to more southerly and less storm- 

 swept latitudes. 



On the higher slopes of the island Manx shearwaters have 

 their home, choosing as their nesting-sites rabbit burrows, 

 where they remain in darkness during the hours of daylight 

 and emerge only after dusk. It has always seemed to me 

 curious that this bird should be entirely of nocturnal habits 

 while at its nesting-site, while at sea it may be observed 



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