158 



THE GUILLEMOT. 



and unattached, as on the palm of your outstretched 

 hand. You might see nine or ten, or sometimes 

 twelve, old guillemots in a line, so near to each 

 other that their wings seemed to touch those of their 

 neighbours ; and when they flew off at your ap- 

 proach, you would see as many eggs as you had 

 counted birds sitting on the ledge. 



The eggs vary in size and shape and colour beyond 

 all belief. Some are large, others small, some ex- 

 ceedingly sharp at one end, and others nearly ro- 

 tund. Where one is green, streaked, and blotched 

 with black, another has a milk-white ground, blotched 

 and streaked with light brown. Others, again, pre- 

 sent a very pale green colour, without any markings 

 at all ; while others are of a somewhat darker green, 

 with streaks and blotches of a remarkably faded 

 brown. In a word, nature seems to have introduced 

 such an endless intermixture of white, brown, green, 

 yellow, and black into the shells of the eggs of the 

 guillemots, that it absolutely requires the aid of the 

 well-set pallet of a painter to give an adequate idea 

 of their beautifully blended variety of colouring. 

 The pen has no chance of success in attempting the 

 description. 



The rock-climbers assure you that the guillemot, 

 when undisturbed, never lays more than one egg ; 

 but that, if it be taken away, she will lay another ; 

 and, if she be plundered of that, she will then pro- 

 duce a third ; and so on. If you dissect a guillemot, 

 you will find a knot of eggs within her. The rock- 

 climbers affirm that the bird can retain these eggs, 

 or produce them, according to circumstances* Thus, 



