2166 The Zoologist — June, 1870. 



roll round on their axis when touched. The razorbill and guillemot 

 when hatching lie on their eggs, and the males, when not fishing, 

 stand by the side of their mates ; so some seem sitting, others standing. 

 It is a pretty sight to see, far across the rolling seas, small parties of 

 razorbills and guillemots coming straight to the rock, flying close to 

 the tips of the waves, following one another in a line; then as 

 they approach the cliffs they rise and separate, each flying direct to 

 his mate, who receives him with great delight; he disgorges the fish, 

 which she feeds upon ; he toddles round about the egg and inspects 

 it, then they bow and croak to one another in a most loving manner, 

 and the female flies down to the sea to splash and dive and flutter 

 along the top of the waves with exuberance of delight. 



Many rock birds select those precipices which are in the im- 

 mediate neighbourhood of good fishing ground : some fish and 

 dive in the neighbourhood of the precipices, but by far the greater 

 number fly to great distances in search of fish. I have seen puflins, 

 razorbills and guillemots fishing all up the east side of the Outer 

 Hebrides as far as Stornaway Harbour, and as far south as Islay, 

 the puffins generally singly and the guillemots and razorbills in small 

 parties. In a fog one may tell the direction of their breeding-places 

 by their flight; straight as an arrow, swiftly they speed in strings of 

 four or five or more, just above the tips of the waves, their small 

 wings flapping so fast that one can hardly distinguish the rate : they 

 are wonderfully rapid flyers ; how such a thick-set large body is 

 propelled at a pace so as to outstrip the long-winged, light-bodied 

 gulls is a mystery to me : the form of their bodies, so admirably 

 adapted for their mode of life, shows the wisdom of the great 

 Creator: a heavy, thick-set body, powerful webbed feet placed 

 close to the short tail, well suited for diving; very short yet 

 strong wings, so that they can fly under the water in pursuit of fish; 

 and a long sharp powerful bill to hold their prey. 



Some naturalists have expressed a doubt whether the rock birds 

 can distinguish their ledges and their own eggs: I have no doubt 

 that they can. To test this, we threw a stone at a ringed guillemot 

 sitting below us, and cause her to fly off her egg, and in a liltle 

 while the same ringed guillemot came to the same egg: in another 

 place we threw some red paint over some razorbills and guillemots ; 

 the next day there were the same red-painted birds incubating the 

 same eggs. 



The rocks having dried a little, Mac proposes going further down : 



