330 



VKUTKlillATA. 



Tho Common Aik or llAzou-r.ii.L— llie Murre of the English Cyclopedia of Natural History 



— A. tarda, \ii fifteen inches long; lays 

 one egg the size of that of a turkey. Its 

 wings arc tolerably well developed, and 

 are uscl for llight, as well as for pro- 

 gression when the hird is under water. 

 It swarms in the high regions of the At- 

 lantic and I'acific, and is common along 

 the rocky coasts of Great Britain. Hay 

 says: "It lays, sits, and brings up its 

 young on the ledges of the craggy cliffs 

 and steep rocks by the sea-shores, that 

 arc broken and divided into many, as it 

 were, stairs or shelves, together with the 

 coulter-nebs and guillemots. The Manks - 

 men are wont to compare these rocks, 

 with the birds sitting upon them in breed- 

 ing time, to an apothecary's shop — the 

 ledu'cs of the rocks rcsemblingthe shelves, 

 and the birds the pots. About the Isle 

 of Man are very high cliffs broken in this 

 manner into many ledges, one above an- 

 other, from top to bottom. They are wont 

 to let down men by ropes from the tops of 

 the cliffs to take away the eggs and young ones. They take also the birds themselves when they 

 are sitting upon their eggs, with snares fastened to the ends of long poles, and put about the 

 necks of the birds. They build no nests, but lay their eggs upon the bare rocks." 



The gathering of the eggs of sea-fowl, as well as the birds themselves for their feathers, along 

 the steepling rocks of the Hebrides, the Shctlands, and the Orkneys, and other places around the 

 British Islands, in which the adventurous fowlers are swung over the cliffs, five hundred or a thou- 

 sand feet above the waves, has often been described as one of the most perilous of human pursuits. 

 Nuttall, speaking of the multitudes of auks on the Isle of Wight, says: "The eggs being es- 

 teemed a delicacy, particularly for salads, the fishermen and other indigent and adventurous 

 inhabitants traverse the precipices in search of them. Some of these stupendous cliffs are six 

 hundred feet above the yawning deep which lashes and frets them into gloomy caverns. Seaward 

 they present rugged and deeply indented cliffs, on whose rude shelvings and ledges the birds ar- 

 range themselves by thousands, and Avitliout further preparation lay their eggs, which lie as it 

 were strewed without precaution by liundrcds in a row, no way attached or defended by the 

 rocks, so that in a gale of wind wliolc ranks of them are swept into the sea. To these otherwise 

 inaccessible deposits, the dauntless fowlers ascend, and passing intrepidly from rock to rock, col- 

 lect the eggs, and descend with the same indifference. In most places, however, the attempt is 

 made from above. The adventurer is let down from the slope contiguous to the brink of the 

 cliff by a rope, sustained by a single assistant, who, lowering his companion, depends on his per- 

 sonal strength alone to support him, which, if failing, the fowler is dashed to pieces, or drowned 

 in the sea which roars and heaves below." 



A similar scene near the coast of Dover is tbus graphically described by Shakspeare : 



THE ARCTIC PLFKIX. 



-How fearful 



And dizzy 'tis to cast one's ejes so low ! 

 The crows and choughs that wing the midway air 

 Show scarce so gross as beetles ! Half way down 

 Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade ! 

 Methinks he seems no bigger than his head ; 

 The fishermen that walk upon the beach 



Appear like mice; and yon tall anchoring bark 

 Diminished to her cock ; her cock a buoy 

 Almost too small for sight. The murmuring surge, 

 That on tlie unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, 

 Cannot be heard so high. I'll look no more, 

 Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 

 Topple down headlong." 



The Little Auk, A. alle of Linna3us, Merguhis melanoleucos of Hay, is ten inches long, and in- 



