68



Ra?)ibles among the Wild Birds.



man who descends is called, tlien sits in a hemp sling attached to

a second rope which is passed round the body of a man, wearing

a leather apron, who does the lowering. This man sits on the

ground and digging his heels well into the soil pays out the rope as

the ‘ dimmer’ walks backwards to the cliff edge. At the extreme

edsre the latter sticks into the soil an iron stake with a revolving

wheel at the top, and passing the body-rope over the groove of

the wheel is lowered quickly over the cliff by his companions

above. A code of signals by jerking the rope regulates the

‘ dimmers ’ movements on the cliff face, and when the command

‘up’ is given he is hauled straight up by those above, and

empties the eggs he has gathered, from the canvas bags slung

around him, into large baskets. The process is then repeated,

until all the ledges to be visited that day have been thoroughly

worked. This is done sjcstematically, and some cliffs, if in danger

of being over-gathered are allowed to lie ‘ fallow’ for a time. It

is no doubt owing to the systematic gathering that only fresh

eggs are taken and the numbers of the birds are not diminished.

The only danger the ‘dimmer’ has to face is from falling stones,

and that is guarded against by a hard hat stuffed with grass.


Guillemot’s eggs vary in colour and marking to an enor¬

mous extent, and the men say it is impossible to find two exactly

alike. Large basketsful of eggs just brought up make a pretty

picture, ranging from pure white through various shades of

green and greenish blue, unmarked, blotched, streaked, and

pencilled in endless variety, up to dark eggs smeared over almost

the entire surface with chocolate and reddish brown. Razorbill’s

eggs are far more constant in their markings and never show

the green varieties.


On the day of my visit a large excursion party was watch¬

ing one of the gangs at work, and to quiet one or two of the more

lively spirits who were in constant danger of falling over the

cliffs, the men consented to let them down to try their hand at

e gg' n g- The first shaped very well, but the second youth

provoked a roar of laughter, as on being hauled up it was found

that he had managed to get his ropes in an extraordinary tangle

about his body. That particular gang must have done a good

trade that day, as they had brought up some hundreds of eggs



