WATCHING SHAGS AND GUILLEMOTS 183 



sitting birds have their beaks pointed towards the 

 cliff, whilst the standing ones are turned indifferently. 

 There are generally several birds on the edge of 

 the parapet, and at intervals one will come pressing 

 to it through the crowd in order to fly down to 

 the sea, whilst from time to time, also, others fly 

 up and alight upon it, often with sand-eels in 

 their beaks. On a ledge of, perhaps, some dozen 

 or so paces in length, there may be from sixty to 

 eighty guillemots, and as often as they are counted 

 the number will be found to be approximately 

 the same. 



Most of the sitting birds are either incubating or 

 have young ones under them, which, as long as they 

 are little, they seem to treat very much as though 

 they were eggs. Others, however, when they stand 

 up are seen to have nothing underneath them, for as 

 with other sea-birds, so far as I have been able to 

 observe, there seems to be a great disparity in the 

 time at which different individuals begin to lay. In 

 the case of the puffin, for instance, some birds may be 

 seen collecting grass and taking it to their burrows, 

 whilst others are bringing in a regular supply of fish 

 to their young. Much affection is shown between the 

 paired birds. One that is sitting either on her egg 

 or young one— for no difference in the attitude can be 

 discovered — will often be very much cosseted by the 

 partner who stands close behind or beside her. With 

 the tip of his long, pointed beak he, as it were, nibbles 

 the feathers (or perhaps, rather, scratches and tickles 

 the skin between them) of her head, neck, and throat, 

 whilst she, with her eyes half closed, and an expression 

 as of submitting to an enjoyment — a " Well, I suppose 



