The Bird Book 



opposed to the dark purplish-black of the Lesser 

 Blackbacked Gull. Head, neck, tail and under- 

 parts of both birds are pure white. When the 

 young birds are hatched, confusion becomes worse 

 confounded, for the little fluffy creatures, with 

 spotted heads, soon leave their nests, and wander 

 about exploring the world into which they have 

 just come. 



Towards the northern end of the island the 

 clothing of bracken gives place to close, springy 

 turf, and here the soil is literally honeycombed 

 with burrows. Puffins stand on guard outside 

 each and take flight at our approach, whilst others 

 scurry out of their holes, almost brushing against 

 our legs, ofttimes colliding with some boulder in 

 their unwieldy haste, and, after turning a few 

 somersaults, fly on to join the birds which form a 

 living circle, whose diameter stretches a quarter 

 of a mile out to sea. 



Beyond the green is a litter of huge boulders, 

 tumbled on top of each other, as if the Titans had 

 been playing pitch and toss with them and had 

 left off in the middle of a game. On these 

 boulders are thousands of birds , hundreds fly off, 

 but their places are almost immediately filled by 

 others. Razorbills, grunting angrily, scramble 

 out of the crannies and join the Puffins. All is 

 motion , we gaze down at the sea and as far as the 

 eye can reach, countless specks of black are seen 

 bobbing up and down on the waves or suddenly 



