I20 T. H. NELSON: A RAMBLE ON THE FARNE ISLANDS. 



amuse themselves on fine summer evenings in chasing one another 

 round old buildings. One Guillemot we noticed in the water had a 

 very light grey head, and would have been a prize for a collector of 

 varieties. Probably disturbed by the noise of our talking, a pair of 

 Rock Doves {Columba livia) flew out of a cave below the rocks on 

 our right, but, as the place seemed quite inaccessible, we did not 

 attempt to look for the nest. One of our party, who is an artist, 

 made an excellent water-colour sketch of the Pinnacles, and after 

 luncheon and a pipe of the fragrant weed, we proceeded towards 

 the adjoining island, passing on the way innumerable nests of the 

 Lesser Blackbacked Gulls ; these were scattered about in all direc- 

 tions, between the fissures of the rocks and amongst the sea-pinks 

 and other plants which thrive on the higher part of the Staples ; 

 nests, indeed, they could scarcely be called, a few pieces of grass or 

 bents, collected together, being all the efforts at architecture the birds 

 had made. The eggs were of various shades of ground-colour, from 

 light green to dark brown, spotted and blotched with brown and 

 black, and varied from one to three in number. The owners of the 

 nests, amongst which we observed a few Herring Gulls, rose at our 

 approach and settled behind us as we advanced, so that we had a 

 flock of birds always before and behind us on the ground, and 

 another wheeling above in the air and greeting us with their hoarse 

 laughing-like cries ; the contrast between the black backs, beautiful 

 snow-white breasts, and yellow legs and bills of these birds was very 

 striking, and added a peculiar charm to the scene not soon to be 

 forgotten. 



The channel between the islands was now dry, and we walked 

 across the rocks, slippery with sea-weed, on to the Brownsman, where, 

 in an old tumble-down cottage, the watcher and his family reside. 

 The Brownsman appears to be a favourite breeding-place for the 

 Eider Ducks ; we found more than a dozen nests with the female 

 birds sitting close, the drakes being out at sea, in small parties of 

 three or four, on the north side of the island. Several of the ducks 

 were remarkably tame, and allowed us to go within a yard or two of 

 their nests before they moved ; one bird, sitting near the house, was 

 evidently a favourite with the children, who fed her while we were 

 standing close by. We examined some of the nests and found they 

 were made of rough grass or sea-weed outside, put together in a loose 

 and clumsy manner, and lined with down, plucked from the birds' 

 breast. Each nest had its full complement of four olive-green eggs, lying 

 snugly packed amongst the down, which is of a dingy brown colour, 

 and not white, as many people imagine ; the lining of one nest will 

 fill a man's hat, and is so elastic that it can easily be compressed 



Naturalist, 



