2164 The Zoologist— June, 1870. 



means confine themselves to these situations, odd pairs being scattered 

 irregularly up its face, even to the top. Mac, who knows every ledge 

 and crack of Beorlan, is collecting a lot of kitti wake's eggs for eating : 

 when boiled hard they are very delicate, far more so than those of the 

 guillemot and razorbill : the while of all these eggs is semilransparent, 

 and the yelk is of a deep orange colour. 



A few more cool and cautious steps bring us to a crack overhanging 

 the sea, with a projecting crag above, which shelters us from the rain, 

 which has just come on as it only can rain in the Outer Hebrides. 

 The wild wind shrieks above, howling and raging over the precipice, 

 then, falling in rage on the sea beneath, strips off the tips of the waves 

 in spray, which is dashed against the rocks, and rain and spray 

 trickle down the rock in tears of regret that the lovely sight is shut 

 out. The drifting rain veils the weeping crags, and the distant head- 

 land looms out, faint and dim ; the sea and sky are blended in one dull 

 gray, with not a gleam of hope struggling through. The rain-drifts 

 whirl in dark wreaths above and around ; the roaring of the wind, 

 the thunder of the Atlantic billows rushing into the caverns and again 

 returning to meet the next approaching wave, which dashes high up 

 on the face of the precipice; all combine to produce a scene of never- 

 ceasing strife: each wave adds to the noise which echoes and re- 

 echoes through this anipliitlieatre of rock, and mingles with the 

 mournful plaint of the kiltivvake, the fiendish baying and hoarse 

 croaking of the guillemot and the razorbill, until the air is filled with 

 a chaos of sounds that once heard can never be forgotten. 



The rock birds are diving in the water or sitting on the rocks, 

 unsheltered from the wind and rain ; and I now observe that the ledges 

 on which the guillemots lay, being broader, are more exposed to the 

 rain than the cracks and places on which the razorbills breed : this is 

 no doubt a wise provision, that the foul excrement of these birds may 

 be cleansed better. 



It is a weird sight to see the razorbills and guillemots, heavy, thick- 

 set birds, dash out from the rain-filled air, and alight abruptly ; to see 

 the kittiwakes, light as spirits, flickering above and around one, floating 

 in the air, the air alive wilh birds, thick as snow-flakes on the winter 

 wind, till the eye is unable to follow them, the ear confused in trying 

 to distinguish the individual cries seething up from this bird city. 

 The kittiwakes fascinate my gaze; they seem to be upheld by some 

 invisible hand ; they float above and around me so lightly that the eye 

 is mesmerized in watching them, and I ara almost tempted to throw 



