2906 Birds. 



foot of the rocks : it is then calm and unruffled, and to the delighted 

 eye, it has the appearance of an immense surface of glass. Beneath 

 the immediate shade of the enormous precipices by which it is over- 

 hung, its colour is of a rich but diluted Prussian blue. Farther off, 

 the tint is softened into a clear and transparent azure ; and, here and 

 there, in places where the floor of the sea is probably of a fine and 

 unshaded sand, there are to be seen lines and bands of the most deli- 

 cate green ; while in patches, of which the bottom is most likely co- 

 vered with weeds of various descriptions, the appearance is of a dull, 

 but deep-toned purple. 



I had the pleasure of visiting these rocks lately (June 28th), but I 

 was sorry to observe that the interesting birds, by which at one time 

 they were covered in thousands, are now every year rapidly diminish- 

 ing in number. This must be attributed, without any doubt, to the 

 shameful persecution to which, during the breeding-season, they are 

 incessantly subjected. Multitudes are destroyed for no apparent pur- 

 pose whatever, unless it be for the gratification of the mere wanton- 

 ness of mischief, and of that propensity, which would seem to be a 

 prominent feature in the present nature of man, to take life away on 

 every occasion when he has the opportunity and the power. The 

 great majority, however, are shot by fishermen from the adjoining vil- 

 lages ; and to this they are led by selfish and interested motives. 

 The feathers of the birds which they kill, are made use of in stuffing 

 beds and pillows, and also in other domestic purposes. And, 

 although the proprietor, on whose estate these rocks are situated, is 

 anxious to protect the winged inhabitants by which they are enlivened 

 and adorned, he, nevertheless, does not possess the legal power to do 

 so, inasmuch as the ocean, from which they are shot, is considered as 

 a liquid highway, of which no individual can claim the exclusive pos- 

 session. An act of the legislature, however, could, it is presumed, 

 communicate to the several proprietors on whose estates rocks thus 

 tenanted are to be found, the ready and effectual means of saving 

 sea-fowl from extermination, in the same manner as it has done in the 

 case of the land and the fresh-water birds, which are spoken of under 

 the general denomination of game. Nor would powers of such 

 a description interfere, in any respect, with the improvements of the 

 present day. The snipe, the wild duck, and the various other birds, 

 by which the marshes and the fens of our country were at one time 

 thickly inhabited, are very sensibly decreasing ; and in many locali- 

 ties have wholly disappeared, before the advances of drainage and 

 cultivation. And such a result is unavoidable in the progressive 



