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CHAPTER XL 



w There o'er his head the cliffs tremendous frown, 

 The cordage cracks, the stones come rattling down, 

 While far and wide old Ocean rolls beneath 1" 



Having concluded the last chapter with a description of the 

 albatross of the southern parts of the world, which is the first of 

 the gull kind, we cannot proceed in a more regular and uniform 

 manner than in giving in this at least a transient glance at that 

 numerous race which is divided into about twenty species. 



THE GULL, THE PETREL, AND THE TERN, 



Are so well known, at least to all who live within any reason- 

 able distance of the coast, that we shall not give a particular de- 

 scription, which among so great a variety of species would indeed 

 be tiresome. They have most of them a fishy taste, and their 

 flesh is coarse and unpalatable. The poor inhabitants of the 

 islands on the north coast of Great Britain, however, esteem it a 

 banquet ; and indeed it may well be thought excellent by those who 

 seldom taste any better. The gull, the petrel, the tern, and in- 

 deed most birds of this genus, have nearly the same nature and 

 habits, frequent the same place, and are caught in the same 

 manner, and by risking the same dangers. 



In order to add to the multitude of examples of the connexion 

 of animal life with human economy, which the history of Nature 

 on every side presents to our view ; and to impress on the mind 

 an idea of a most dangerous and adventurous scene with which 

 tew are acquainted, and of which, without an exact account it 

 would be impossible to form any conception ; we shall devote 

 a few moments to a description of the sport of catching sea -fowl 

 and taking their eggs on the stupendous rocks which in some 

 place? are found on the northern coasts of Great Britain, and 

 appear as a bulwark to oppose the assaults of the ocean. To 

 these shores, the gull, the petrel, and innumerable other sea-fowl, 

 resort, and breed in the cavities of these rocky cliffs. Of tho 

 tremendous sublimity of those immense elevations, it is not easy 

 to form an idea. The stupendous works of art, the highest 

 towers, the noblest domes, are mere ant-hills when put in the 

 scale of comparison ; and a single cavity in one of these rocks 

 often exhibits a canopy more lofty than the ceiling of a Gothic 

 cathedral. What would we think, were we placed on the rock 

 of St. Kilda, elevated above three quarters of a mile, or more 

 than fourteen times the height of St. Paul's cathedral, above the 

 surface of the sea, and overhanging it in a most terrific manner • 



