GUILLEMOTS, RAZORBILL, ETC. 131 



Cornwall. The great number of local names by 

 which the Guillemot is known round our coasts 

 speak to its former abundance ; Lavy, Marrock, 

 Murre, Diver, and Willock the latter applicable 

 to the young may be mentioned as a few of the 

 best known. The birds congregate at their old 

 accustomed haunts in Spring, with remarkable 

 regularity, often punctually arriving on the same 

 day for years in succession. At Heligoland, and 

 certainly other places, Guillemots return to their 

 nesting places from time to time during the winter, 

 appearing in the morning for a little while, just as 

 Rooks are wont to do at the nest trees. The 

 Guillemot rears its young on the face of the lofty 

 ocean cliffs, or on the flat tops of rock stacks. Cliffs 

 with plenty of ledges and hollows are preferred, 

 and in such chosen spots the birds crowd so closely 

 that, at some stations, the wonder is how each 

 individual can possibly find room to incubate its 

 egg, or even secure a standing place in the general 

 throng. There can be little doubt that in such 

 crowded spots as the " Pinnacles," many of the 

 eggs never reach maturity. The Guillemot makes 

 no nest of any kind, but lays its single large 

 pear-shaped egg on any suitable ledge, or in any 

 available hollow where it can be tolerably safe 

 from toppling over into the sea. There are few 

 more stirring sights in the bird-world than a large 

 colony of Guillemots. I still retain the vivid 

 impressions made upon my mind by the vast 



