64 AUK. 



part of May,* when they are met with on most of the high, craggy 

 coasts of England, where our merciless shooters go to try the use of 

 the gun, and too frequently leave many hundreds of these, and the 

 Guillemots, after maiming them, to die by slow degrees at the bottom 

 of the rocks; for they are stupid birds, and suffer themselves to be 

 shot at, one after another. They lay one egg, on the rugged sides 

 of the bare rock, which adheres thereto, by means of the glutinous 

 moisture, which hardens immediately on exposure to the air ; and the 

 part in contact is so small, as to make the egg appear as if resting 

 on its own balance; this will account for the difficulty of restoring 

 it again to its place, whenever it is once removed :t it is said, that 

 in case the egg is taken away, the bird will lay again, and even a 

 third time, should the second fail ; the colour is dusky white, marked 

 with many irregular, dusky, or blackish spots, and seems large in 

 proportion to the size of the parent, equalling that of a Turkey, 

 though somewhat longer in shape. The natives are fond of the eggs, 

 and run the greatest hazard in procuring them, being lowered from 

 above by ropes ; two persons, each having a rope tied to their middle, 

 the one takes fast hold, while the other lowers himself as convenience 

 may serve ; but the weight of the under one sometimes exceeding 

 the uncertain hold of his companion, they both fall, and perish. J 



The chief food of this bird is fish, particularly sprats ; observed 

 to dive frequently, and having caught several, to range them on each 

 side of the bill, with the heads in the mouth, and the tails hanging out; 

 and when the mouth can hold no more, the bird retires to the rocks, 

 to swallow them at leisure, or carry them to its young. 



* Come every spring, with the Guillemots, to Saint Margaret's Cliffs, on the Kentish 

 Coast, and leave that place in the course of the summer. — Mr. Boys. 



t Harvey de Generat. Anim. ExercsX. See Arct. Zool. ii. 510. Notef. Col. Montagu 

 is of opiuion that the eggs are not fastened to the rock, as he has taken them up frequently, 

 and laid them again in the same spot; and he has observed a violent gale of wind sometimes 

 to sweep away whole ranks of them. — Orn. Diet. 



t The eso-s of this, and the Foolish Guillemot, are an article of trade in several Isles off 

 the Coast of Scotland, and are used for refining sugars. — Orn. Diet. 



