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legs, and I have sometimes wondered whether it is quite 
impossible that the young are carried down to the sea in that 
manner accidentally. If this could once be proved, it would 
also satisfactorily clear up the other two difficulties, viz., how 
it happens that only a comparatively few of the very young are 
seen in the water, and how it is that fowlers and others who 
spend whole days among them do not detect them in the act 
of removal. The Guillemot is more irregular in its hour of 
laying than any other bird I know. At two o’clock in the 
afternoon I have seen a female shot, containing a perfectly 
coloured egg. It has happened several times that similar 
cases — the hour excepted — have occurred at the distance of 
several miles from the nearest breeding station. “NMien a 
sudden alarm disturbs the colony, it is sad to see numbers of 
the eggs either falling into the sea or breaking upon the rocks ; 
a mishap so common, as the bird hurries off the ledge, that it 
must cause a large annual deficiency in the numbers. The 
idea that the birds wilfully destroy their eggs rather than leave 
them to be taken by the fowler, is stiU prevalent in Shetland ; 
but the people are unable to say what can be the reason for 
tumbling their eggs over the clifis when a shot is fired from 
below. Another popular belief exists, but only among those 
who have never visited the haunts of sea-birds, that the e^ss 
of Eazor-bills and Guillemots are fixed to the rocks by means 
of a kind of glue, supplied by the birds. The owner of a 
remarkably fine collection of eggs, questioning me upon this 
subject, was astonished at my ignorance in the matter, and 
although he would not contradict me, he hinted strongly .at 
the advantages of more careful observations on the part of 
others. Of the extraordinary variety wliich prevails among 
the eggs of this species but little need be said. Pure white 
or spotless yellowish green varieties, formerly supposed to 
belong to Uria lachryraans, are not uncommon ; but the deep 
spotless greenish blue is very seldom met with. Whether the 
ground colour be white or blue, the eggs are as liable to be 
streaked as spotted ; but, as a rule, the white eggs hav^e the 
i 
