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most numerous of the Sea-Gulls in Fseroe. No words of mine can give an adequate conception 

 of the multitudes of these Gulls; they almost rival the Puffins in number. From morn till 

 night they follow the line of coast in never-ending streams, wending their way to and from their 

 breeding-places. I have watched them for hours passing in continuous flocks of thousands 

 alongside the cliffs, each bird with a piece of grass or moss in its bill. On the island of Sandoe 

 are two small lakes, which seemed to be a favourite bathing-place for these birds ; the surface 

 of the water was literally white with them, and the narrow valley leading up from the sea to the 

 lakes was thronged with them hurrying to and fro. One of their nesting-places, on the magni- 

 ficent cliffs of the Great Dimon, is the finest sight of the kind I have seen. A visitor lands on 

 the ledge, only accessible in fine weather, at the base of the cliffs ; and then he has to scramble 

 along between the sea and the face of the rock, for about half a mile, before reaching the only 

 spot where it is possible to ascend the island. On one side is the sea dashing against the rocks, 

 looking as if each wave was ready to sweep over the ledge ; on the other hand the wall of rock 

 rises perpendicularly to a height of six or seven hundred feet. There the Kittiwakes build in 

 countless myriads, in a vast colony to themselves ; the nests commence at a height of twenty or 

 twenty-five feet from the ledge, and then continue without intermission to the top of the cliff. 

 Our visit was made in the height of the laying-season; each nest had an owner seated on it, and 

 generally the mate was perched alongside. By yelling and shouting we managed to make some 

 of the birds near us leave their nests ; then the disturbance became general, and the Kittiwakes, 

 tier by tier, left their nests, giving the appearance of a vast white sheet rolling up from the face 

 of the cliff and dissolving into snow. The noise was deafening for a few minutes ; but soon the 

 birds settled down on their nests. The Kittiwake is much esteemed for the table, and the 

 inhabitants are constantly shooting them ; we ate them and found them tolerable. On one 

 occasion, in the North Isles, I fired four barrels at short range into an enormous flock of them, 

 seated on the water ; the result was, twenty-one picked up, to the delight of our crew, who were 

 thus provided with a good supper." 



In Norway, Mr. Collett informs me, this species breeds most numerously within the arctic 

 circle, and here and there in small colonies on the coasts of Nordland and Trondhjemstift down 

 to Stat. The largest breeding-places are in Finmark, and are on the larger fjords or on the outer 

 islands, in suitable localities. The largest is Svserholtklubben, between the Porsanger and Laxe 

 fjords. In that steep cliff, about 800 feet high and equally wide, every available inch of room is 

 made use of, and the number of individuals m ust amount to milliards ; and I can well believe 

 that in no other place is so large a number collected in so small an area. "The most northern 

 colonies in Finmark are found on the Stappen ' Fuglevser,' close to the North Cape, and on 

 Svserholtklubben. When I visited the former locality, June 26th, 1872, the nests contained 

 eggs, slightly incubated, however, and half-fledged young. The nests, composed of clay and 

 stalks of grass, are built on the very walls of the perpendicular rocks, or on narrow ledges 

 sparsely covered with herbage ; the sides of the nests were quite saturated with the droppings of 

 the birds. Attached to the toppling crags, they project like the nests of Swallows over the 

 skerries beneath ; some, however, are located so low as to be frequently wetted by the spray. 

 The approach of this interesting breeding-haunt was in a high degree unsavoury from the vast 

 accumulation of guano, and from the number of rotten eggs and half-decomposed bodies of 



