THE GREAT GREY GULL. 299 



Observations by a modern naturalist. 



to look down on the unfathomable vacuity be- 

 low; to ponder on the terrors of falling to the 

 bottom, where the waves that swell like moun- 

 tains are scarcely seen to ctirl on the surface, and 

 the roar of a thousand leagues broad appears 

 softer than the murmurs of a brook? It is in 

 these formidable mansions that myriads of sea- 

 fowls are for ever seen sporting, flying in secu- 

 rity down the depth, half a mile beneath the feet 

 of the spectator. The crow and the chough 

 avoid those frightful precipices ; they chuse 

 smaller heights, where they are less exposed to 

 the tempest; it is the cormorant, the gannet, the 

 tarrock, and the terne, that venture to those 

 dreadful retreats, and claim an undisturbed pos- 

 session. To the spectator from above, those birds, 

 though some of them are above the size of an 

 eagle, seem scarce as large as a swallow ; and 

 their loudest screaming is scarcely audible. 



" But the generality of our shores are not so 

 formidable. Though they may rise two hundred 

 fathoms above the surface, yet it often happens 

 that the water forsakes the shore at the depar^ 

 ture of the tide, and leaves a noble and delight- 

 ful walk for curiosity on the beach. Not to men- 

 tion the variety of shells with which the sand 

 is strewed, the lofty rocks that hang over the 

 spectator's head, and that seem but just kept 

 from falling, produce in him no unpleasing 

 gloom. If to this be added the fluttering, the 

 ^creaming, and the pursuits of myriads of water- 

 2 P 2 



