BEHIND THE VEIL IN BIRDLAND 



Not wishing to annoy the natives I left, and one of the women 

 in descending the steep slope sprained her ankle. It seemed as if 

 I might get into serious trouble, for it was all blamed on to 

 my shoulders, but using a little tact, I explained through an 

 interpreter, for she could not speak English, that this was a 

 punishment upon her for not allowing me to take the photograph ! 

 After this I found it easier to work my ' infernal machine,' and 

 secured some good and interesting pictures. 



The Puffin lays its egg at the end of a burrow ; sometimes 

 the latter is excavated by a rabbit, but more often by the bird 

 itself. I have seen whole islands of several acres simply under- 

 mined by these burrows, and as I walked about I repeatedly 

 slipped through up to my knees, and a terrified Puffin scampered 

 out, wondering who this strange intruder was. 



It is really a wonderful sight to look upon a large colony of 

 Puffins when there are young in the nests. Thousands of the 

 parents are seen coming back from the sea with rows of small, 

 bright fish in their beaks, while thousands more are leaving the 

 burrows and flying away again to their distant fishing grounds. 



62 



