found before the last few days of May. It is believed to pair for life, as the 

 same cracks and crevices in the rocks are tenanted year after year. No nest is 

 made, but the eggs are deposited on the bare stones, either in some crannies 

 in a cliff it may be at the very top, hundreds of feet from the sea or under 

 some flat stone among the ddbris on the shore. On some of the small islands 

 in Shetland I have found them a hundred yards from the sea, under some flat 

 rock in the middle of a grassy island, and in Unst I took two beautiful 

 specimens from an old stone wall fully a hundred and fifty yards from the 

 sea. Sometimes the eggs can be distinctly seen from outside, at other times 

 they are ten or twelve feet from the orifice. They are generally two in number, 

 though it is said that three are occasionally found. They resemble miniature 

 Razorbill eggs ; not much variation is observed in the character of the 

 markings. The ground-colour varies from creamy white and pale bumsh 

 yellow to very pale bluish green, blotched and spotted with overlying marks 

 of rich brown, sometimes purplish black, and large conspicuous under-markings 

 of inky grey. Some specimens have the markings very small, and distributed 

 fairly evenly over the entire surface of the egg. On others the blotches are 

 large and confluent, forming irregular patches on the larger end of the egg, 

 and in some instances they are collected in a zone. They vary in length from 

 2*50 to 2' 1 7 inches, and from ryo to 1^45 inch in breadth. 



Both birds assist in the duties of incubation, as I have seen them relieve 

 each other ; each in turn fetching food to their sitting mate, generally small coal- 

 fish. They do not evince much anxiety when their nesting-haunts are invaded, 

 flying off to the sea with much whirring of their short wings, where they 

 swim restlessly about until the intruder departs. 



Young in down are uniform brownish black. 



16 



