362 



A UDUBON 



k:k 



iMi 



\ \ 



thus murdered in one hour by six men. The birds are 

 skinned with little care, and the flesh cut off in chunks; 

 it will keep fresh about a fortnight. The nests are made 

 by scratching down a few inches, and the edges sur- 

 rounded with sea-weeds. The eggs are pure white, and 

 as large as those of a Goose. By the 20th of May the 

 rock is already covered with birds and eggs; about the 

 20th of June they begin to hatch. So great is the de- 

 struction of these birds annually that their flesh supplies 

 the bait for upwards of forty fishing-boats, which lie close 

 to the Byron Island each season. When the young are 

 hatched they are black, and for a fortnight or more the 

 skin looks like that of the dog-fish. They become grad- 

 ually downy and white, and when two months old look 

 much like young lambs. Even while shooting at these 

 birds, hundreds passed us carrying great masses of weeds 

 to their nests. The birds were thick above our heads, 

 and I shot at one to judge of the effect of the report of the 

 gun; it had none. A great number of Kittiwake Gulls 

 breed on this rock, with thousands of Foolish Guillemots. 

 The Kittiwake makes its nest of eel-weeds, several inches 

 in thickness, and in places too small for a Gannet or a 

 Guillemot to place itself; in some instances these nests 

 projected some inches over the edge of the rock. We 

 could not see any of their eggs. The breeze was now so 

 stiff that the waves ran high; so m xh so that the boat 

 was perched on the comb of the wai/e one minute, the 

 next in the trough. John steered, v^d he told me after- 

 wards he was nearly exhausted. The boat was very 

 cleverly hauled on deck by a single effort. The stench 

 from the rock is insufferable, as it is covered with the 

 remains of putrid fish, rotten eggs, and dead birds, old and 

 young. No man who has not seen what we have this day 

 can form the least idea of the impression the sight made 

 on our minds. By dark it blew a gale and we are noff 

 most of us rather shaky; rain is falling in torrents, and 



