X 6 THE SOUTHERN CLIFFS 



stream out over the sea, barking and whining like 

 packs of hounds, to see if the herring-shoals have come 

 in during the night ; and the cormorants " Isle of 

 Wight parsons," as the sailors call them launch them- 

 selves heavily from the lower rocks, and fly low along 

 the shore in > shaped wedges. Only the puffins stay 

 to gossip and wag their heads, and talk about the 

 young rabbits they stole yesterday, and the agreeable 

 change which they make in a fish diet. Presently, if 

 no herring-shoals are in sight, the gulls come sailing 

 back ; the young ones first in their dusky feathers, and 

 their grey-and-white parents later, some to line the 

 rocks, while others settle on the water, and float like a 

 fleet of yachts at anchor, and watch their visitor. If 

 he be still and quiet, they will even alight near him on 

 the sand, and trip daintily along where the waves 

 break, stopping every now and then to examine the 

 rolls of seaweed for dead crabs and fish. But these 

 serve only to " deceive the stomach," as Mr. Stanley's 

 phrase is. A gull's appetite needs more liberal diet, 

 and the whole flock rise joyfully as an old white 

 herring-gull flies in from the sea and screams to the 

 hungry crowd. " Herrings ! " he shouts, as plainly as 

 may be. "Herrings! Hurrah!" the pack answer; 

 and the air is full of white wings hurrying off to the 

 distant shoal. 



