THE GUILLEMOT. 
159 
if she be allowed to hatch her first egg, she lays no 
more for the season; if that egg be lost or taken 
away, another is laid to supply its place. 
The men also assure you that, when the young 
guillemot gets to a certain size, it manages to climb 
upon the back of the old bird, which conveys it down 
to the ocean. Having carried a good telescope with 
me, through it I saw numbers of young guillemots, 
diving and sporting on the sea, quite unable to fly ; 
and I observed others on the ledges of the rocks, a» 
I went down among them, in such situations that, 
had they attempted to fall into the waves beneath, 
they would have been killed by striking against the 
projecting points of the intervening sharp and rug- 
ged rocks : wherefore I concluded that the informa- 
tion of the rock-climbers w^as to be depended upon ; 
and I more easily gave credit to it, because I myself 
have seen an old swan sailing on the water with her 
young ones upon her back, about a week after they 
had been hatched. 
He who rejoices when he sees all nature smiling 
around him, and who takes an interest in contem- 
plating the birds of heaven as they wing their way 
before him, will feel sad at heart on learning the 
unmerited persecution to which these harmless sea- 
fowl are exposed. Parties of sportsmen, from all 
quarters of the kingdom, visit Flamborough and 
its vicinity during the summer months, and spread 
sad devastation all around them. No profit attends 
the carnage; the poor unfortunate birds serve merely 
as marks to aim at, and they are generally left 
where they fall. Did these heartless gunmen reflect, 
