EGGING ON THE COAST OF YORKSHIRE. 441 



Razorbills have a similar note, while the Kittiwakes reiterate 

 their own name. 



Now the "dimmer" has got so low down that the sea-spray 

 wets his clothes, and as the only eggs to be found so low down 

 are Kittiwakes' and not much in request, being small and easily 

 broken, he stands on a ledge and jerks once on the guide-rope. 

 One of his comrades goes to the edge of the cliff, holding by the 

 hand-rope, and sticks an iron pulley on a short spike into the 

 ground, passing the guide-rope on to it. The weight of the man 

 on the rope keeps the pulley fast, and thus they haul him steadily 

 but rapidly up. He empties the contents of his bags into large 

 baskets, and we find the eggs are almost all Guillemots', with a 

 sprinkling of Ringed Guillemots', w^iich can only be told by 

 watching the birds off the eggs, though the men profess to be able 

 to distinguish them by their being shorter and rounder ; but some 

 eggs from which the men watched the birds for me, and brought 

 up, were exactly similar to those of the Guillemot. The colours 

 are most brilliant and varied, and a basketful is a beautiful 

 object. 



Next to the Guillemots, Razorbills are the most abundant 

 species ; but the eggs of these birds are generally difficult to reach, 

 being, as a rule, placed in a deep fissure. Then come Kittiwakes, 

 which make their nests just above reach of high tide. Puffins are 

 very numerous, but as their eggs are almost invariably placed at 

 the end of a deep crevice or hole, they are not often seen in the 

 " dimmer's " baskets. Rock Pigeons build in some numbers in 

 the caves below, but from their inaccessibility their eggs are 

 seldom taken. Jackdaws build in the nooks and crannies of the 

 rocks, but the eggs are too small to be worth the trouble of 

 looking after. Occasionally the nest of a Kestrel or Carrion Crow 

 is met with, and twice only in his life had our informant taken a 

 Cormorant's nest. Ravens have been extinct for the past fifteen 

 years. The birds are known by the following local names: — the 

 Common Guillemot is called the " Scout" Qn-onounced " Scoot") ; 

 the Ringed Guillemot, "Silver-eyed Scout"; the Razorbill, 

 "Auk"; the Puffin, "Parrot"; the Carrion Crow, "Raven Crow"; 

 the Kittiwake, " Kittiake." 



The next time the "dimmer" went below he brought up a 

 live Razorbill which he had caught on her egg; she was in a very 

 bad temper, and bit savagely at his fingers. "When he let her fly 



