400 BRITISH BIRDS. 



attentive to their young, which they will defend 

 to the last, by severely biting" whatever enemy 

 attempts to molest them, and will suffer themselves 

 to be taken rather than desert them. 



The bite of these birds is very severe : one sent 

 to the author, in a box covered with netting, 

 caught hold of the finger of a poor man, and 

 brought away the fleshy part of it, as if it had 

 been cut out with a knife: but they may be tamed, 

 and soon become familiar. They are fed on fish 

 and other animal substances. 



These birds are spread over various parts of the 

 northern world, and are met with on almost all the 

 rocky cliffs on the coasts of Britain and Ireland, 

 and on many of the surrounding isles, in immense 

 numbers. They congregate in flocks of a magni- 

 tude regulated by the accommodations afforded 

 them at their breeding places, at which they first 

 assemble early in April, but do not settle to pre- 

 pare for the business of incubation till May. They 

 hatch their young in the beginning of July; from 

 which time until nearly the middle of August, they 

 are employed in nurturing and rearing their brood : 

 when this is accomplished, the whole associated 

 swarm leaves the place at once, and pursues its 

 route to other regions, more suited to their future 

 exigencies, there to spend the remainder of the 

 varied year. 



The foregoing figure and description were taken 

 from a perfect specimen of an old bird, the present 

 of Mrs. Cheney, late Miss Harriet Carr, of Dunston 

 Bank; and on comparing it with several others, 

 it appeared evident that their bills increase in size 

 with their age. 



