SEA-BIRDS. 
271 
and occasionally, as something unusual seemed to pervade 
the dense rows of guillemots, a loud, hoarse murmur, like 
the cheering of some distant multitude, together with the 
constant motion of the freshening sea, and the loud beating 
of the surge against the rocks — all contributed to render 
this one of the finest scenes of nature"^/"* 
" Who can recount wliat transmigrations there 
Are annual made ? What nations come and go ? 
And how the living clouds on clouds arise ? 
Infinite wings ! till all the plume-dark air 
And rude resounding shore are one wild cry." 
Thomson, * Autumn , lines 867-872. 
To this may be added the groups of stiff, black cormorants, 
perched on outstanding rocks, their footing made secure by 
barnacles. These black birds keep a sharp look-out, and 
every now and then fly off. The black tystie, with its 
white wing-covers [Vna grylle)^ may be seen floating about 
and occasionally diving. The visitor to Shetland cannot 
but be struck with the vast hosts of sea-birds everywhere 
engaged in seeking for their food. 
In the Arctic regions, such as the shores of Baffin^s Bay, 
Spitzbergen, and Nova Zembla, similar, if not richer, scenes 
* ' Coloured Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds/ etc. By W. H. 
Hewitson. Vol. ii. pp. 400, 401. 
