50 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Dr. W. F. Ainsworth, had seen it flying along in 

 its majestic fashion oft" the coast of Portugal. The 

 gannets choose open ledges, and most of them, 

 almost of necessity, lay where daring climbers can 

 get their eggs. The temptation is irresistible ; and 

 as the work of destruction never ceases the wonder 

 is that any escape, what with the depredations of 

 other sea-birds — who can be seen sitting in most 

 contemplative and philosophical mood with half 

 an egg-shell impaled on their beaks, — what with 

 the rats, and what with the assiduous attentions 

 of islanders, sailors and pilots. I do not want to 

 accuse sea-birds of being cannibals, and eating their 

 own eggs ; that would be too cruel a charge. But 

 do they not eat the eggs of their unfortunate 

 friends ? At any rate they are often seen sitting 

 reflectively with the remains of an egg on their 

 beaks, and sharp human eyes have before now seen 

 a guillemot with a guillemot's egg thus impaled. 

 Truly the eggs in the season have many enemies. 

 Puffins generally lay their eggs, much resembling 

 those of the domestic fowl in size and shape, 

 though not quite of the same colour, in burrows, 

 and consequently many escape. Razor-bills 

 also choose obscure and unsavoury nooks behind 

 large masses of fallen rock, but gulls and 

 guillemots are less astute and far-seeing, and 

 deposit their eggs in full view of the egg- 

 gatherer. Solan geese select by preference bare 

 ledges, not particularly difficult to reach, and 

 few of their eggs are hatched out. The largest egg 

 is the gannet's, and usually fetches sixpence for 

 the egg-gatherer ; but the most brilliantly coloured 

 is the guillemot's, which is green, white or blue. 

 Birds generally lay eggs that vary a little in 

 colour, but guillemots allow themselves great 

 latitude. Nests are not made, except very rude 

 ones by gannets and gulls, and a little rubbish is 

 scraped together by some of the puffins ; sea-birds 

 do not excel as nest-builders. 



The tameness of the birds at the breeding season 

 takes the landsman by surprise, and some of the 

 smaller species actually remain on their eggs until 

 driven off. They naturally resent the attempt to 

 remove them, and opening their formidable beaks, 

 snap with right good earnest at the fingers of the 

 egg-thief. Of all quaint little creatures, none 

 surpasses the puffin, with its comical physiognomy 

 and red colouring, so much more vivid in life and 

 in its native haunts than in museums, where, how- 

 ever skilfully the bird-preserver does his work,. the 

 student of Nature is painfully struck by the con- 

 trast, missing that indescribable something which 

 life alone can give. Sea-birds' eggs are not bad 

 eating when boiled for a long time, but they have 

 a very strong flavour and are useless for delicate 

 cooking. As for the flesh, though not absolutely 

 uneatable, especially in a meat pie, there is some- 

 thing unpleasant in the thought of eating it, 



and on our English coasts few sea-birds are 

 used to satisfy the human appetite, though the 

 hardier and less squeamish Scotchman does not 

 despise them preserved in salt. Of land birds 

 Lundy has a fairly long list— blackbirds and song 

 thrushes, skylarks, robins, meadow pipits, white- 

 throats, a few cuckoos, sparrows, chaffinches, and 

 other common species being fairly numerous, while 

 in severe weather considerable flocks of tender 

 native birds cross from the mainland. In addition 

 to the foregoing bird-life, plovers, curlews, pere- 

 grine falcons, Cornish choughs, ravens, gosshawks, 

 carrion crows and buzzards are seen in small 

 numbers ; a pair or two of each species permanently 

 residing on the island. The peregrine falcons of 

 Lundy have always been in high repute for 

 hawking, and even now young falcons are sent 

 away for this purpose. An occasional eagle has 

 condescended to alight on the island for a short 

 rest. No more favourable place than Lundy could 

 be found in June and July for the study of sea- 

 birds. What life ! What movement ! What 

 conflicting interests ! In short, all the functions 

 and habits of animals deserve investigation, and 

 the bird lover should really pitch his tent on 

 Lundy for a few months. In mild winters, Lundy 

 weather is of a broken, spring-like character, and 

 favourable to bird and insect life, but I never 

 heard of swallows being seen there at that season. 



Although the rocks look precipitous, and in 

 places rise in abrupt ledges four hundred and even 

 four hundred and fifty feet from the water, long 

 practice and holding a rope in one hand, securely 

 fastened to a crowbar driven into the ground, or 

 firmly attached to a projecting point of rock, will 

 enable a steady head and a keen eye to explore 

 almost all the ledges, comparatively little of the 

 side-lands being absoluteh" inaccessible. Nor is 

 this amusement so dangerous as might be sup- 

 posed, though lives have occasionally been lost. 

 Ladies soon become expert climbers and find great 

 excitement in exploring the nooks and crannies of 

 the mysterious bays of the west and north-west. 



Lundy has become a favourite shelter for 

 thousands of ships in the course of every year, 

 and it has probably saved many thousands of lives 

 and hundreds of vessels. Unfortunately, in fogs it 

 is often the cause of loss of life and destruction of 

 property, and many a ship has gone down on its 

 dangerous reefs and iron-bound sides. On the 

 morning of Tuesday, February 6th, 1877, during 

 my residence on the island, a large steamer, the 

 "Ethel," of Sunderland, struck on a dangerous rock 

 on the west side, not far from the Fog Signal Battery. 

 The mate, a Scotchman, named John Lawrence, 

 after a terrible struggle for life, swam ashore 

 and was saved, his escape being simply miraculous. 

 Had he not escaped it is very probable that 

 the steamer to which he belonged would ha\e 



