110 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



same spot as a breeding-place at one and the same time, 

 yet no confusion or misunderstandings arise between the 

 occupants. The Guillemots keep a ledge of the rock 

 entirely to themselves ; the Razorbills and Gulls do like- 

 wise; and we have it on undoubted authority that the 

 various families keep strictly to their own precincts, and do 

 not attempt any intrusion on the domains of their neigh- 

 bours. This is the more remarkable, as upon some of the 

 larger breeding stations the various birds may be reckoned 

 by many thousands. 



The Guillemot lays only one egg ; it is large considering 

 the size of the bird, and shaped somewhat like a pear ; the 

 colour is a fine bluish-green, more or less blotched and 

 streaked with dark reddish-brown or black ; the length is 

 about three inches and a quarter, and nearly two inches 

 in width. The eggs of this bird differ very considerably 

 in colour, some being almost of a white ground, and others 

 with scarcely any secondary markings on them. The 

 Guillemot deposits her egg upon the bare rock, making no 

 attempt to form a nest ; incubation lasts nearly a month, 

 during which time the parent bird sits perfectly upright, 

 and certainly presents a very comical appearance. The 

 eggs are considerably prized as articles of food, and the 

 dangerous process of collecting them is on many parts 

 of the coast a regular occupation. 



The young Guillemots are at first covered with a sort 

 of bristly hair which appears to be quite impervious to the 

 water. Until the young birds are taken to the water they 

 are fed with portions of fish. It has often puzzled natur- 

 alists to account for the modus operandi adopted by the 

 old birds in transporting their progeny to the sea. Mr. 

 Waterton, in his account of a visit to the rock-bird breed- 



