THE GUILLEMOT. 
155 
goners. Towards the top of the cliffs, both rabbits 
and foxes have descended from the table land above 
them, and managed to find a shelter among the 
crevices, in places where you would suppose that no 
four-footed animal would ever dare to venture. A 
low mound, half earth, half stone, thrown up by the 
farmers for the protection of their flocks, skirts the 
winding summit of the precipice. Cattle have been 
known to surmount this artificial boundary, and lose 
their lives in the roaring surge below. 
This extensive range of rocks, as far as appertains 
to birds, is not considered private property. Any 
person who can climb it may carry away what num- 
ber of eggs he chooses. Still there is a kind of 
honourable understanding betwixt the different sets 
of climbers, that they will not trespass over the 
boundaries which have been marked by mutual 
consent. 
The eggs of the guillemot and razorbills form a 
considerable article of traffic from old May-day till 
about the middle of June. Though the eggs of the 
kittiwake and puffin are of fully as good a flavour, 
still they are not in such request, on account of 
their tender shells, which are easily broken in pack- 
ing, and in transporting from place to place. 
The usual process of seeking for the eggs is 
generally carried on by three men, though two will 
suffice in case of necessity. Having provided them- 
selves with two ropes of sufficient length and 
strength, they drive an iron bar into the ground, 
about 6 in. deep, on the table land at the top of the 
precipice. To this bar is fastened the thickest of 
the two ropes, and then it is thrown down the rocks. 
