A NATIVE NATURALIST 251 



form of a badgers paw and leg in their sight, and 

 when the flame expired they imagined that the illusory 

 paw had extinguished it. I dare say that if such an 

 incident had been related by the Canadian, Charles 

 Roberts, or by any of the writers of the " new or 

 romantic school " of natural history in America, it 

 would be set down by most readers as an unusually 

 wild invention of the author. 



The ferryman had no such wonderful story to tell 

 when we compared notes, and I intend here to relate 

 only a few of the curious incidents he had witnessed, 

 and this mainly for a purpose of my own. They 

 were mostly little tragedies. 



One summer day when he was out in his boat 

 fishing for pollack at his favourite ground a mile or 

 two beyond the Godrevy Lighthouse he noticed three 

 guillemots near him, one old bird with its half-grown 

 young one, and a second young bird which accom- 

 panied the others but kept at a little distance from 

 them. This young guillemot had doubtless been lost 

 or left by its parents. There was no other bird in 

 sight except a great black-backed gull, flying idly 

 about, now making a wide circle and occasionally 

 dropping on to the water to examine some small 

 floating object, then flying off again. He appeared 

 to pay no attention to the guillemots, nor they to 

 him, and it therefore came as a great surprise when 

 all at once in passing over the three birds he dropped 

 down upon the second young guillemot and seized it 

 before it had time to dive. The captive struggled in 

 vain, sending forth its shrill cries for help far and 



