MIGRATION, 251 



promiscuously, but with a degree of regularity and 

 distinction which strikes the beholder with wonder. 

 On the summits of the rocks breeds the puffin, 

 burrowing among the grassy tufts ; from thence to 

 half-way down is the space selected by the auks ; 

 while in the remaining division are placed the guille- 

 mots and gulls, the latter coming almost to high- 

 water mark. Of the auks and guillemots, which lay 

 only a single egg, placed on the bare rock, one may 

 often see, on a shelf not more than three yards in 

 length and as many feet in breadth, fifty or sixty 

 individuals, jammed together like a solid mass, and 

 each sitting upon its egg. Such masses are of 

 frequent occurrence, the shelves being larger or 

 smaller ; but in general, two or three or four are 

 seen together, and sometimes an individual is ob- 

 served sitting solitary, if one may say so, when it is 

 surrounded by others at no greater distance than 

 three or four feet. The gull, on the other hand, has 

 a regularly constructed nest, made of grass and sea- 

 weeds, fixed to the face of the rock with clay or mud, 

 and usually containing three eggs. This appeared 

 to be the most numerous species, and in many places 

 the rock was white with it; but the numbers of 

 the auk and guillemot were not less astonishing. 

 When a shot was fired, most of the birds in the 

 neighbourhood left their stations and flew about, 

 while some fell into the sea, and on emerging raised 

 with their wings a continuous sheet of spray which 

 extended several hundred yards from the rocks. 

 After a succession of shots, almost the whole body 

 seemed to be on wing, presenting the appearance 

 of a cloud, which occupied a quarter of a mile 

 square, and through which one could scarcely dis- 

 tinguish the blue sky from the flakes of clouds. In 

 their flight the birds did not cross much, but gene- 

 rally moved in the same direction, wheeling in a 



2B3 



