EGGING ON THE COAST OF YORKSHIKE. 443 



of leaning as far back as possible with my feet against the face of 

 the cliff. However, I did not give way to this, but went steadily 

 over and down, the men paying out the guide-rope. As soon as 

 I was fairly over I looked straight down into the sea boiling below, 

 and cannot say that I felt the least giddiness ; on the contrary, 

 I enjoyed the sensation very much. I was soon low enough to 

 see two Guillemot's eggs on a ledge, and speedily bagged them, 

 but on looking round could not see any more. I expect the men 

 had cleared oif all but these two, so that in case I did not put in 

 my appearance no great loss would result to them. Giving the 

 signal to pull up, I was soon at the top again, and was critically 

 looked at by the men, who, seeing that I did not tremble, said 

 I was " a good-plucked one." 



They do not seem to care much about lowering amateurs, 

 probably because it takes up too much of their time. The birds 

 were very numerous here, and I was taken on to one projection 

 and pointed out the slack on one side of it, where the birds were 

 simply clinging in thousands to the face of the cliif, like bees. We 

 shouted and waved our hands to try and frighten some of them 

 off, but their screams drowned our voices, so that very few, com- 

 paratively, flew away. Almost all that left had been sitting on an 

 egg, and very beautiful these looked against the white cliff. These 

 birds were almost all Guillemots, and the reason for the vast 

 colon}' at this point is that the cliff hangs over many yards at the 

 top, so that it is quite impossible to swing far enough under to 

 reach the eggs. The birds seem to know this, and breed in 

 security. 



The cliffs are of white limestone ; down below are curious 

 fissures, in which the "dimmers" sometimes disappear from sight, 

 and at the bottom are fine caves and arches. The Guillemots and 

 Razorbills, as a rule, sit with their backs to the sea ; they seem 

 to be unable to fly directly up to their ledges, and approach them 

 by a circuitous sideways route. Here and there a cluster of five 

 or six Razorbills may be seen facing the sea, and as another bird 

 flies past they stretch out their necks and hiss and snap at it. 

 The little Puffins seem to take a delight in sitting in the mouths 

 of the holes where their eggs are, and surveying the animated 

 scene. The men told me that at one time a black variety of the 

 Common Guillemot, and at another time a white Guillemot, 

 haunted the cliffs, but were never killed to their knowledge. The 



