get safely down to the water? At 'The Pinnacles' on the Fames, where one 

 can sit comfortably within thirty yards of the birds, I have seen the fond 

 parents resort to the simple device of shoving them over the cliff, and 

 apparently the young birds are not much the worse; but though I have 

 patiently watched these for some time on several occasions, I have never seen 

 one carried down by the old birds, though such is said to be the method 

 usually employed. 'The Pinnacles' are only some fifty feet high, and quite 

 perpendicular from the water, consequently the method of shoving the young 

 birds over is fairly safe; but this is absolutely out of the question on the Bass 

 Rock and in similar places, where the cliff is not perpendicular, and where 

 many of the Guillemot ledges are two, or even three, hundred feet above the 

 water. I have, however, repeatedly seen young Guillemots, almost fully fledged, 

 on the higher ledges of the Bass, and probably in situations such as these 

 the young do not leave the ledges until they can fly sufficiently well to 

 accomplish the descent in safety. 



Young in down are brownish black on the upper parts and greyish white 

 below. 



VOL. n. u 



73 



