BIRDS. 321 
The general colour of the plumage is dingy white, with a 
greyish tinge. Surrounding each eye there is a naked 
skin of a fine blue colour ; from the corner of the mouth 
a narrow slip of naked black skin extends to the hind part 
of the head ; and beneath the chin there is a pouch capa- 
ble of containing five or six herrings. The neck is long ; 
the body flat, and very full of feathers. On the crown of 
the head, and the back part of the neck, is a small buff- 
coloured space. The quill-feathers, and some other parts 
of the wings, are black ; as are also the legs, except a 
fine pea-green stripe in front. The tail is wedge-shaped, 
and consists of twelve sharp-pointed feathers. 
These birds chiefly resort to those uninhabited islands 
where their food is found in plenty, and men seldom come 
to disturb them. The islands to the north, Ailsa Craig, 
on the west coast of Scotland, the Skelig islands off the 
coasts of Kerry in Ireland, and those that lie in the 
North sea off Norway, abound with them. But it is on 
the Bass Rock, in the Frith of Forth, where they are 
seen in the greatest abundance. " There is a small island," 
says the celebrated Harvey, " called the Buss, not more 
than a mile in circumference : the surface is almost 
wholly covered during the months of May and June with 
the nests of the Solan Geese, their eggs, aud their young. 
It is scarcely possible to walk without treading on them : 
the flocks of birds upon the wing are so numerous as to 
darken the air like a cloud ; and their noise is such, that 
one cannot without difficulty be heard by the person next 
to him. When one looks down upon the sea from the 
precipice, its whole surface seems covered with infinite 
numbers of birds of different kinds, swimming and pur- 
suing their prey. If, in sailing round the island, one sur- 
veys its hanging cliffs, in every craig or fissure of the 
broken rocks maybe seen innumerable birds, of various 
sorts and sizes, more than the stars of heaven when viewed 
in a serene night. If they are viewed at a distance, either 
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