3110 THE ZooLoGist—JUNE, 1872. 
range from fifty to seven hundred feet in height; they are of chalk, and 
nearly perpendicular in many places, rendering it very difficult and dangerous 
to procure any eggs, except by putting a bar down, a practice which has 
been stopped by the Lord of the Manor. At first we saw nothing except 
some jackdaws, which breed here in large numbers, laying their eggs‘in the 
crevices of the rocks, and are very destructive to both eggs and youug of the 
other birds. We had gone about a mile before we saw the first cormorant, 
which rose from the water about a hundred yards ahead, and, flying round 
the boat in a half-circle, dropped about two hundred yards astern. Soon 
after this we began to see the herring gulls, which breed here in large 
numbers; some were sitting on pieces of rock close to the water's edge, 
some on the sides of the cliff, and others flying overhead, many of them 
allowing the boat to go by without appearing the least alarmed. As we 
proceeded we found them in greater numbers, and in passing the highest 
part of the cliff, which rises to nearly seven hundred feet out of the sea, a 
pair of puffins flew from a hole in the rock: it was on the top of this rock 
that Mr. Rogers, naturalist, of Freshwater, shot a pair of rock thrushes 
(these are two of the few British specimens killed up to the present time). 
All along the cliff we noticed a good many rock pipits. A little further on 
and we came to what seemed the favourite resort of the birds, which were to 
be seen on every available ledge of the rocks, besides many others flying 
about. The cormorants occupied the highest part of the cliff, and as near 
as we could guess there seemed about one hundred of them: some of these 
flew off and hovered over our heads, far out of gun-shot, whilst others looked 
down with wondering eyes. About the centre of the cliffs sat the guillemots, 
looking like rows of soldiers: these were in great numbers; many darted down, 
and with quick, steady flight passed over the boat out to sea; some flew back 
after a few circles and joined their companions, the greater number, however, 
taking no notice whatever of us. There were a few razorbills, and a good many 
puffins mingled with the other birds, the latter coming out of holes towards 
the base of the cliff. A little further on and we came to a large piece of 
rock in the water, off which flew nine cormorants; these soon mixed with 
the other birds, mingling their hoarse croaks with the harsh notes of the 
gulls, and then flew up and settled on the highest parts of the rocks. About 
half way up the face of the cliff we noticed a large bird sitting by itself, and 
on looking through the glass found it to be the crested or green cormorant, 
a rare bird in these parts. The men who rowed the boat said they never 
remembered seeing so great a number of birds there. The herring gull 
appeared to be the only one of its species breeding on these rocks, but the 
boatmen told us that a few pair of lesser blackbacked gulls every season 
remained to breed. Every winter these cliffs are frequented by many 
different kinds of the sea gull, and great numbers of geese and ducks are to 
be found on the sea. Every yeara pair of peregrines and ravens build 
