LETTER IV. 57 



Guillemot's hole, instead of an egg, I extracted an unpleasantly 

 soft, downy, dirty little object, which I was glad to return again, 

 receiving for my pains a furious nip from the old one; and a 

 Puffin's bite is really no joke ; it is as bad as a Parrot's, and he 

 holds on like a bull-dog. The most cautious mode of proceeding, 

 when you wish to take up a live Puffin, is to give him a gentle 

 tap on the head to confuse him, and quickly grasp him round 

 the neck before he has time to catch your fingers. But one 

 cannot be cruel to a Puffin, for his comical look would make a 

 cynic laugh. 



I have not met with the Sandwich Tern here at all, though 

 the Common and Arctic Terns — especially the latter — breed in 

 profusion, so that we use their eggs as an article of food ; but I 

 will keep a watch for it next year. The Hooded Crow's eggs are 

 most numerous, as these odious birds are most extraordinarily 

 abundant, and they are very persevering in nesting, although 

 their nests and eggs are continually destroyed. Last year I 

 witnessed a very striking instance of this ; for, finding a nest, 

 I waited till it contained five eggs, and then took them. A few 

 days after I examined it, and found three eggs, which I took, and 

 destroyed the nest. About a fortnight later I found a new nest 

 built not a gunshot from the old situation, containing four eggs, 

 which the hen was hatching. From the lateness of the season, 

 as well as the proximity of the situation, I hailed her as my 

 persevering old friend. 



I am informed, on undoubted authority, that it is a common 

 trick for young people to remove the Hoody's eggs, and replace 

 them with Bantam's eggs slightly rubbed with indigo, which the 



