The Zoologist— June, 1870. 2165 



myself out into the air, above the treacherous dark green sea, which is 

 foaming underneath this overhanging rock. 



But a gleam of light suddenly pierces the dark rain-mist ; slowly 

 the nearest crags and points loom out; the rain, dripping from the 

 skirts of the retreating clouds, slackens and ceases ; white flocks of 

 cloudlets slowly wreath round the brows of the enormous precipice ; 

 and as the last headland looms out, dark and sullen, from the skirts of 

 the black rain -mist, the sun bursts through the rents of the clouds, 

 and sheds his warm light into this rocky bay, tinting up the precipices, 

 till the dripping rocks sparkle with rainbow-light, and the never- 

 ceasing snow-storm of birds, flickering above, below and around, are 

 almost dazzling, in their purity, against the sullen black clouds. 



The dripping rocks being extremely unsafe to walk on, owing to 

 the slime and wet, Mac and myself lie in this crack and rest, and gaze 

 in silence at the scene. One feels very insignificant in the midst of such 

 a scene : the enormous precipices towering to a terrific height, their 

 sides weather-beaten and lichen-covered, and cracked and minutely 

 fissured, by battling with the storm and the sea for countless ages. 

 The precipice of Beorlan shows very distinctly the positions 

 selected by the difierent species of rock birds for breeding. From 

 the summit to about half-way down it is a steep slope, sloping just 

 enough to allow the bladder-campion and thrift to grow, out of which 

 masses of rock peep, and blocks and debris of rock are scattered 

 thickly. On every stone sits a puflSn, sometimes several ; every 

 square foot seems occupied, but they are much thicker in some places 

 than others: they have burrowed holes in the soft turf, in which the 

 females are sitting, and now, after the shower, many females come out 

 and toddle about, walking bolt upright, their pretty orange-webbed feet, 

 curious bill, white front and small black wings making them look very 

 grotesque. Their mates have been standing at the entrance of their 

 holes, and now, joined by the females, they fly down to the sea 

 together, and gambol and splash about in great glee. 



The razorbill auks occupy the next position, many laying their 

 one large egg on the rougher cracks or ledges, and others under 

 fallen pieces of rock : although they occasionally lay on the same 

 ledges with the guillemots, they generally select cracks and narrow 

 crannies for themselves, laying their single egg on the rougher portions: 

 this is doubtless because their eggs, being less pyriform or blunter, do 

 not roll round so readily as do the eggs of the guillemot, which are 

 laid on broad flat ledges, and which, being more pointed at the end, 



