300 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Cursory observations. 



birds, all either intent on the duties of incuba- 

 tion, or roused at the presence of a stranger, no- 

 thing can compose a scene of more peculiar so- 

 lemnity. To walk along the shore when the tide 

 is departed, or to sit in the hollow of a rock 

 when it is come in, attentive to the various 

 sounds that gather on every side, above and be* 

 low, may raise the mind to its highest and noblest 

 exertions. The solemn roar of the waves swel- 

 ling into and subsiding from the vast caverns 

 beneath, the piercing note of the gull, the fre- 

 quent chatter of the guillemot, the loud note of 

 the auk, the scream of the heron, and the hoarse 

 deep periodical croaking of the cormorant, all 

 unite to furnish out the grandeur of the scene, 

 and turn the mind to HIM who is the essence 

 of all sublimity. 



" Yet it often happens that the contemplation 

 of a sea-shore produces ideas of an humbler 

 kind, yet still not unpleasing. The various arts 

 of these birds to seize their prey, and sometimes 

 to elude their pursuers, their society among each 

 other, and their tenderness and care of their 

 young, produce gentle sensations. It is ridicu- 

 lous ako now and then to see their various ways 

 of imposing upon each other. It is common 

 enough, for instance, with the arctic gull, to pur- 

 sue the lesser gulls so long, that they drop their 

 excrements through fear, which the hungry 

 hunter soon gobbles up before it ever reaches 

 the water. In breeding too they have frequent 



