494 
LAKIDiE. 
anxiously over us, plaintively pronouncing their clearly 
articulated cry of Kittiwake. Many of them would come 
fearlessly within a few feet of the boat, and would hover 
stationary over our heads, and so near that we could ex¬ 
amine every feather. The whole scene was indescribably 
wild and delightful. I had found quarters at the house 
of one of the fishermen, that I might enjoy the magnifi¬ 
cent scenery of the rocks around me, and had the next 
day strolled along the edge of the precipitous cliffs, which 
we had the day before viewed from their bases upwards. 
Suddenly everything was enveloped in a dense mist, which? 
partially clearing, now and then displayed to my view 
far below, glimpses of the busy scene of yesterday. Saun¬ 
tering along, lost to the direction of my homeward way, 
I observed immense numbers of the Kittiwakes passing 
over my head inland; and, being anxious to know their 
object, I followed in their route, and soon met equal 
crowds returning, each freighted with a piece of fish. 
Knowing that they must have been to the harbour for 
these—the pieces cast away in preparing the fish for 
salting—I gladly kept company with my friends, and 
reached home by the shortest route. A storm was coming 
on, and the sea was running very high; they had, there¬ 
fore, adopted this short cut to their feeding-place, in pre¬ 
ference to the circuitous course of the forth, where we 
had met them yesterday. The Kittiwake begins to breed 
late in May, or early in June, and lays three eggs, differ¬ 
ing much in colour and in the position of the spots. A 
beautiful zoned variety is more prevalent than amongst 
the eggs of almost any other bird. 
