Jan., 1891. 
A TRIP TO ORKNEY AND SHETLAND. 
11 
In reference to the birds breeding on the rocks, the 
sailors said they had frequently seen the young Guillemots 
dropped down into the sea on the back of the mother bird for 
their first sea bath, and the young bird was held securely in 
its position by the beak of the mother, who turned her head 
babk over her shoulder to catch hold of the young bird with 
her beak. There have been shown engravings with the 
young bird calmly sailing down on the back of the mother 
without any such hold; but that certainly seems improbable. 
There was a discrepancy in the accounts of the sailors, as to 
the time in the young bird’s life when its first plunge was 
taken ; one account was that this was directly after hatching, 
as a protection from the depredations of large gulls that 
prey upon the young birds ; but another account, which 
seemed more probable, was that the first plunge is some 
time after hatching, when the young bud is able to fly up 
again, and repeat the performance on its own account. 
In reference to this interesting question, Mr. Water ton 
says (as stated by Macgillivray, Yol. II., page 322), “ The men 
about Flamborough Head assured him that when the young 
Guillemot comes to a certain size, it manages to climb upon 
the back of the old bird, which conveys it down to the 
ocean.” Macgillivray adds, “ Others say the old Guillemot 
takes her chick by the neck in her bill, and thus conveys it to 
the sea.” 
Yarrell (Yol. IY., page 72), quotes Mr. Maclachlan, “who 
asserts that the young bird is grasped by the wing, near the 
shoulder, and is not as a rule, carried down on the back of 
the parent.” 
Seebohm (Vol. III., page 398) says, “ That young birds, 
totally incapable of flight, are seen on the sea is an undis¬ 
puted fact, but the means by which they get there is the 
vexed question. Many ornithologists believe that the young 
bird is conveyed to the water below by its parent; and the 
veteran climber, Lowney, positively assured me that he had 
seen the old bird in the act of conveying her young down to 
the sea on her back. About half-way down the little creature 
slipped off; the mother flew round and round it, screaming 
as if in alarm ; but the young bird swam away all right, and 
did not seem injured by the fall.” 
I am indebted to Mr. Chase for the above interesting 
quotations ; and he adds that, from his own personal obser¬ 
vation of the habits of the Guillemots at their breeding sta¬ 
tions, he “ cannot give credence to these accounts of convey¬ 
ing the young to the sea ; and it is curious that no naturalist 
should have witnessed the performance, and that the only 
