THE GUILLEMOT. 157 



to give way. One of the climbers, while he was 

 imparting to me instructions how to act, grinned 

 purposely, and showed his upper jaw. I learned by 

 his story, that, last year, a falling stone had driven 

 two of his front teeth down his throat ; while the 

 poor climber, with all his dexterity, was unable to 

 fend off the blow. 



As I was lowered down, the grandeur and sub- 

 limity of the scene beggared all description, and 

 amply repaid any little unpleasant sensations which 

 arose on the score of danger. The sea was roaring 

 at the base of this stupendous wall of rocks ; thou- 

 sands and tens of thousands of wildfowl were in an 

 instant on the wing : the kittiwakes and jackdaws 

 rose in circling flight ; while most of the guillemots, 

 razorbills, and puffins, left the ledges of the rocks, 

 in a straight and downward line, with a pecu- 

 liarly quick motion of the pinions, till they plunged 

 into the ocean. It was easy to distinguish the 

 puffins from the razorbills in their descent : these, 

 presented a back of a uniformly dark colour : those, 

 had a faint white diagonal line running across the 

 wings. The nests of the kittiwakes were close to 

 each other, on every part of the rocks which was 

 capable of holding them; and they were so nume- 

 rous, as totally to defy any attempt to count them. 

 On the bare and level ledge of the rocks, often not 

 more than six inches wide, lay the eggs of the guil- 

 lemots : some were placed parallel with the range 

 of the shelf, others nearly so, and others with their 

 blunt and sharp ends indiscriminately pointing to 

 the sea. By no glutinous matter, nor any foreign 

 body whatever, were they affixed to the rock : bare 



