168 



THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



gality of Nature, which covers desolate rocks with such a pro- 

 fusion of life. The vast number of sea-birds is the more 

 surprising, as many species, such as the 

 guillemot, the auk, the fulmar, and the 

 puffin, lay but one single egg on the naked 

 rock, and often in so precarious a situa- 

 tion, that it is almost inconceivable how 

 breeding can take place. When the birds 

 are surprised and suddenly fly off, many of 

 the eggs tumble down into the surf. Sea- 

 eagles, falcons, and raptorial gulls destroy 

 a great number, and pounce upon the 

 young ; thousands fall a prey to the rigours 

 of an Arctic winter ; the spring-tides 

 sweeping over low shores, often carry away whole generations 

 at once, and many a maritime population lives entirely upon 

 the sea-fowl that breed upon the sterile soil. And yet, in spite 

 of so many enemies and persecutions, their numbers remain 

 undiminished, nor has their importance ever ceased in the 

 domestic economy of the rude islanders of the north. 



Auk. 



Sea-Fowl Shooting. 



But however valuable the eggs and the oil, the feathers and the 

 flesh of the hyperborean bird-republics may be to man, they are 

 far from equalling in importance the guano-producing sea-fowl of 

 the tropical seas. This inestimable manure, which has become 

 so indispensable to the British agriculturist, is found scattered 



