494 The Zoologist — November, 18G6. 



" We now draw near the magnificent extremity of Hoy Island, 

 formed at this point by varied rocky cones of gently rising crag, and 

 beautifully backed by the cone-shaped Hill of Hoy, towering to the 

 right in the memorable and stupendous Head. Raising my glass, as 

 we approached, and carefully scrutinizing every nook and cranny, my 

 delight was unbounded at the aspect of the scene, but when the eye 

 was enabled to take in a wider grasp by a nearer approach, words 

 must fail in making description simulate even a faint reality of that 

 which met its gaze. Resting upon every possible projection, and upon 

 innumerable ledges, so small, narrow and constrained, that to all 

 appearance there was scarcely space for a mouse's thoroughfare, that 

 lovely bird the kiltiwake abounded in myriads and myriads; and, 

 while our closer neighbourhood was the signal for thousands to circle 

 far aloft, and fill the air ' with sounds discordant in sonorous chaos,' 

 others rested in vacant immobility, looking like stuffed specimens 

 effectively arranged upon a noble mass of artificial rockwork for some 

 Brobdignagian museum. Nothing can exceed the unsullied purity of 

 these birds' plumage. In no single instance can you observe a feather 

 draggled or soiled, or ruffled; the snowy whiteness of their plump, 

 smooth breasts, surpassing in clearness the chastest lustre of the 

 spring-born lily, or the unspotted surface of the winter's drift. Far 

 above, upon the lofty grassy steeps, but more sparingly disposed, the 

 herring gull, as usual, may be seen to pair. A few razorbills have 

 taken up their quarters in the lower crannies, and, resting upright on 

 their short flat feet, scrutinise our movements wilii a grave attention, 

 like the bench of bishops watching with absorbed gaze the progress of 

 a warm debate. 



"So beautiful, so very beautiful, was the sight that I paused longer 

 and longer still, ere I dared to five my gun, and thus introduce discord 

 and confusion into this magnificently grouped array. I was also 

 undesirous to do so before 1 had further inspected the scene while 

 under its present aspect of comparitive repose. 



"Accordingly, striking sail and depending on the oars, we now 

 rounded a bluff rocky headland, and entered a more cavernous and 

 indented inlet, overhung by a frowning and tremendous height. Here 

 a variation in detail occurred, and the scene appeared to shift and 

 alter like the changes in a play, illustrating in a beautiful manner the 

 interesting fact that each species of bird frequents, during the all- 

 important incubatory process, its own special locality, chosen by itself, 

 according to its nature and position, perfectly distinct from the rest, 



