154 
THE GUILLEMOT. 
early in the month of May. About five miles from 
Bridlington Quay is the village of Flamborough, 
chiefly inhabited by fishermen ; and a little farther 
on is a country inn, called the North Star, which 
has good accommodation for man and horse ; but a 
lady would feel herself ill at ease in it, on account 
of the daily visits of the fishermen, those hardy sons 
of Neptune, who stop at it on their way to the ocean, 
and again on their return. Here they rendezvous, 
to fortify their interior with a pint or two of comfort, 
and to smoke a pipe, by way of compensation for 
the many buffets which they ever and anon receive 
in the exercise of their stormy and nocturnal calling. 
On the bare ledges of these stupendous cliifs the 
guillemot lays its egg, which is exposed to the face 
of heaven, without any nest whatever ; but the 
razorbills and puffins lay theirs in crannies, deep and 
difficult of access. Here, too, the peregrine falcon 
breeds^ and here the raven rears its young ; while 
the rock pigeon and the starling enter the fissures 
of the precipice, and proceed with their nidification, 
far removed from the prying eye of man. The kit- 
tiwake makes her nest of dried grass wherever she 
can find a lodgement, and lays two spotted eggs, 
very rarely three. The cormorant and shag inhabit 
that part of the rocks which is opposite to Buckton 
Hall. You are told that the cormorants had their 
nests, in former times, near to the Flamborough 
lighthouse ; but now these birds totally abandon the 
place during the breeding season. The jackdaw is 
found throughout the whole of this bold and craggy 
shore : he associates with the seafowl, as though he 
were quite at home amongst his own inland con- 
