6 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
spots. Here I have often taken the eggs, and cooked 
them in the boiling water of the springs. On the 
ledges of the rocks and cliffs tens of thousands of 
guillemots (Uria troile and U. brunnichi) lay their 
eggs and rear their young, whilst here and there 
amongst them are large colonies of kittiwake gulls 
(Rissa tridactyla ), with their nests perched on inac¬ 
cessible shelves and in little hollows of the cliffs. 
Hundreds of thousands of fulmars [Fulmarus 
pad ficus) occupy every available grassy tussock and 
ledge on the steep sides of the island, both inside and 
outside the crater, whilst millions of little auks of 
several species [Phaleris cristatella and P. mystacea 
being the most numerous) lay their eggs in the 
hollows and crannies of every nook, and beneath 
every boulder, all round the island. 
Towards evening these little auks take their 
flying exercise. They gather in flocks of many 
thousands, and hundreds of these flocks will be in 
the air at one time, forming clouds which almost 
darken the atmosphere. They fly round and about 
the island, now rising high above the mountain, 
and then sweeping down with a great rush towards 
the water—to rise again and swerve off, and pass 
and repass each other, each flock as one bird, as if 
they were going through the intricate figures of a 
quadrille. 
The guillemots, often accompanied by puffins, 
also take their evening exercise, but in a much quieter 
manner, theirs being a steady flight round and round 
the island in an endless line or band. All the birds 
that take this apparently regular exercise are con¬ 
fined to those species with comparatively heavy 
bodies and short wings. 
