756 



THE NATURE BOOK 



what silent bird, and it is this silence, 

 combined with the constant restlessness, 

 that heightens the almost uncanny im- 

 pression it leaves upon one's mind. Yet 

 when they are collected in vast numbers 

 on some stack rock there is a continuous 

 murmuring hubbub, rising sometimes, 

 and especially at night, to a clangorous 

 roar — like the ground sea, a prelude to 

 a change in the weather. 



Returning to the summit of the cliffs 

 one steps into a new world. All is warmth 

 and sunlight, and one gives a sliglit shud- 

 der — a relic of the damp, cool precipices, 

 the ca\-ernous gullies still lying in the 

 shadow. But all is life, too. Hosts of 

 puffins and razorbills bask on the sunny 

 boulders ; they crawl forth from their 

 burrows ; the air is alive with a stream of 

 birds flying in one vast circle — the con- 

 stitutional exercise of the puffin city. 

 Some are constantly dropping out, others 

 rise to fill the gaps, and so the stream 

 flows on. ^lany return from the sea 

 with four or fi\-e small fish held cross- 

 wise in the beak, heads and tails dangling 

 on either side ; others wing their way 

 to the fishing-grounds, and one's eye 



follows them to the water only to see 

 innumerable specks of black and white 

 bohl)ing up and down on the waves. 

 Nay, more ! Here and there one can see 

 a shadow}^ form beneath the water, cleav- 

 ing its way, doubtless, through some shoal 

 of tiny fish ; and few, indeed, escape that 

 once feel the pressure of that beak. The 

 profusion of life is bewildering. The birds 

 are all about you as you sit half concealed 

 among the boulders, each apparently the 

 exact counterpart of the other. Then 

 suddenly it flashes upon you that each 

 has its own individuality, thinks its own 

 thoughts, lives its own life. Differences 

 too slight to catch the human eye are 

 all apparent to them — else how account 

 for their behaviour ? Half a dozen birds 

 close at hand are basking peacefully in 

 the sunlight. Another joins them ; there 

 is plenty of room on that enormous 

 boulder, but seemingly he is not a friend. 

 Instantly a fight ensues. Two birds seize 

 each other with their curious beaks and 

 strain and struggle for mastery, preserv- 

 ing the while the most ludicrous gravity 

 and perfect silence, till one or both fall 

 over the edge and disappear from view. 



RAZORBILLS AND J'Ul FINS. 



