408 THE GUILLEMOT 



far removed from the prying eye of man. The kittiwake makes her 

 nest of dried grass wherever she can find a lodgement, and lays two 

 spotted eggs, very rarely three. The cormorant and shag inhabit 

 that part of the rocks which is opposite to Buckton Hall. You are 

 told that the cormorants had their nests, in former times, near to the 

 Flamborough lighthouse j but now these birds totally abandon the 

 place during the breeding season. The jackdaw is found throughout 

 the whole of this bold and craggy shore. He associates with the 

 sea-fowl, as though he were quite at home amongst his own inland 

 congeners. Towards the top of the cliffs both rabbits and foxes 

 have descended from the table-land above them, and managed to 

 find a shelter among the crevices, in places where you would suppose 

 that no four-footed animal would ever dare to venture. A low 

 mound, half-earth, half-stone, thrown up by the farmers for the pro- 

 tection of their flocks, skirts the winding summit of the precipice. 

 Cattle have been known to surmount this artificial boundary, and 

 lose their lives in the roaring surge below. 



This extensive range of rocks, as far as appertains to birds, is not 

 considered private property. Any person who can climb it may 

 carry away what number of eggs he chooses. Still there is a kind 

 of honourable understanding betwixt the different sets of climbers, 

 that they will not trespass over the boundaries which have been 

 marked by mutual consent. 



The eggs of the guillemot and razorbills form a considerable article 

 of traffic from old May-day till about the middle of June. Though 

 the eggs of the kittiwake and puffin are of fully as good a flavour, 

 still they are not in such request, on account of their tender shells, 

 which are easily broken in packing, and in transporting from place 

 to place. 



The usual process of seeking for the eggs is generally carried on 

 by three men, though two will suffice in case of necessity. Having 

 provided themselves with two ropes of sufficient length and strength, 

 they drive an iron bar into the ground, about six inches deep, on the 

 table-land at the top of the precipice. To this bar is fastened the 

 thickest of the two ropes, and then it is thrown down the rocks. 

 He who is to descend now puts his legs through a pair of hempen 

 braces, which meet round his middle, and there form a waistband. 



