.32 FLAMBOROUGH HEAD. 



wings are wet ; but this is quite wrong, as any one may see by putting them 

 off. Some which I frightened from their places, and never took my eye off, 

 made one or two wide circuits and returned to the chff below me without 

 touching the sea. It is true that they have a great objection to seeing any 

 thing under them except water ; but they certainly are not unable to 

 fly over the land, although such good authorities as the Messrs. Strickland 

 stated, at one of the meetings of the British Association, that such was ' 

 the case. 



When once on the level ground they are almost incapable of getting off 

 again, though not entirely so. For I know one reliable instance, at any rate, of 

 a Razorbill which deliberately rose from the earth and flew away in front of 

 the cliff- climber's cottage-door; and what a Razorbill could do, a Guillemot 

 could do. 



Their position in the air, and the character of their flight, has always 

 seemed to me something remarkable. The legs are very much used to steer 

 by, as may be observed when a Guillemot is turning round in the act 

 of alighting on the cliff. This is in default of sufficient tail*. 



The Guillemots are much the earliest birds to come. Mr. Bailey, of 

 Flamborough, assures me that he now sees a few upon the cliffs as early as 

 New Year's day. They always used to make their appearance in February. 

 In March great numbers arrive ; and a tempestuous sea at the end of that 

 month will drive hundreds and hundreds of them to the cliff. 



All that I saw on the cliffs on the 21st and 22nd of March were in their 

 complete summer garb ; but a specimen obtained on one of those days out 

 at sea had not begun to change at allf . 



* If any reader wishes to know further the purpose for which Guillemots were made with 

 abbreviated tails, he may refer to the ' Zoologist/ 2nd ser. vol. ix. p. 4119. 



t On the 5th of April I obsei-ved some which were in winter plumage, in a poulterer's shop 

 at Newcastle. On the 27th of April, 1869, Mr. Cordeaux observed others in winter dress at Flam- 

 borough ('Zoologist/ vol. iv. p. 1737). 



