T34 
Allen’s naturalist’s library. 
unusual bustle, suddenly changed the wonderful scene, The 
Razor-bills, Guillemots, and Puffins were not afraid of us ; but 
on the appearance of their well-known and irresistible enemies 
the whole cloud threw themselves with one accord, as at the 
command of a magician, into the sea, and the outlook was 
clear and free. Innumerable black points, the heads of the 
birds swimming in the sea, stood out distinctly from the water, 
and broke up the blue-green colouring of the waves. Their 
number was so great that from the top of the berg, which was 
over three hundred feet high, we could not see where the 
swarm ended, could not discover where the sea was clear 
from birds. 
“ The millions of which I had been told were really there. 
This picture of apparent quiet only lasted for a few moments. 
The birds soon began to fly upwards again, and as before 
hundreds of thousands rose simultaneously from the water to 
ascend the hill, as before a cloud formed round it, and our 
senses were again bewildered. Unable to see, and deafened by 
the indescribable noise about me, I threw myself on the ground, 
and the birds streamed by on all sides. New ones crept con- 
stantly out of their holes, while those we had previously 
startled now crept back again ; they settled all about me, 
looking with comical amazement at the strange form among 
them, and approaching with mincing gait so close to me that I 
attempted to seize them. The beauty and charm of life 
shewed themselves in every movement of these remarkable 
birds. With astonishment I saw that even the best pictures 
of them are stiff and cold, for I remarked in their quaint forms 
a mobility and liveliness with which I had not credited them. 
They did not remain still a single instant, their heads and 
necks at least were moved incessantly to all sides, and their 
contours often showed most graceful lines. It seemed as 
though the inoffensiveness with which I had given myself up to 
observing them had been rewarded by unlimited confidence on 
their part. The thousands just about me were like domestic 
birds ; the millions paid me no more attention than if I had 
been one of themselves.” 
Nest. — None, the egg being placed in a fissure of the cliff or 
in a burrow. 
