Watcher Patterson told us he once saw an Eider Duck with five small young ones accidentally leave two ashore in a deep crevice in the rock when she took to the sea. A Lesser Black Back happened to be passing at the time, and, seeing his opportunity, stooped and carried off one of the downy little creatures, which he swallowed in mid-air. No sooner had he accomplished this feat than he descended again, and, seizing the other, flew away with it.

KITTIWAKES.

•26-1- WITH XATVRE AND A CAMERA.

We visited the far-famed Pinnacles again, and found them crowded as thickly as ever with Guillemots, many of which evidently had young-ones, for they were edging their way into the seething noisy mass with sand-eels in their bills. Below them were a number of Kittiwakes, and their downy young ones, all of which were panting and gaping from the oppressive heat. Our pictures of the Guillemots and Kittiwakes were both obtained on the Saltee Islands. A few land birds occasionally breed upon the islands. Some years back a Linnet made its nest in a small elderberry tree growing in the Fame lighthouse-keej^er's garden, and a Blackl)ird amongst some YOUNG BLACK GUILLEMOT, rhubarb stalks. A member of the last species also made its nest not long ago in a liendo(;k plant growing on the Wide Opens.

A number of Siielducks breed amongst the sand dunes, l)etween Sea Houses and j^amborough Castle on the mainland, aiul the fishermen look upon them as tlu; most artful l)irds in existence. As an instance of a Shelduck\s cunning, they assert that when she leaves her nesting burrow she drags hei- tail upon the ground, so as to ol)litei-ate her footpi'ints ill the sand, and llius sav(^ her ni\st IVoiii discovery and molestation.

The Bass Rock in; one of the finest Gannet breeding.stations in the British Isles. It is now inider the prcjprietorsliip of ]\Ir. Colin ^Mackenzie, of Cantj Bay Hotel, near North Berwick, who owns

GUILLEMOTS.

every facility for conveyino- visitors in almost any sort of wreath er across the mile and a half or so of sea dividing it from the mainland.

We have been twice on the rock during the last two or three years, but on neither occasion have we been favoured by good weather for photography. ()ur second visit was paid at six o'clock in the

morning on July Ttli, 1897, when we found the Solan Geese still busy building, or perhaps, more strictly speaking, repairing their nests, for I saw one hard at work adding to its nursery of seaweed, although it contained a good-sized young one. It was quite comical to watch one of these great birds come creeping along the edge of a cliff, in the face of a stiff breeze, with an immense

GANNETS ON THE WING.

tang-le of weed hanoino; from its l)ill in such a way as to form a kind of rudder, whose eccentric flappings made its bearer wol)ble strangely in flight. I saw two liirds steal the materials of a neighbours nest, which tlicN' ])ulh'd almost to pieces during her temporary absence, caused by our picture-making efforts; and close to the same })lace wo witnessed a terrible battle, which ended in l)oth the contestants rolling in a confused licaj) right over the cliff. Ganncts with young are very easy birds to photograph, as tliev will allow the naturalist to walk about amongst tliciii willi no more pi'otcst

GANNETS ON BASS RCCK.

268

WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA.

than a vigorous peck at his legs. In one case a bird in the foreground spoilt a picturesque group which my brother desired to take, and, as she would not leave her young one, I was obliged to push her off the cliff with my cap folded tightly round my right hand.

I was greatly astonished at the length of time such large birds could remain poised over one particular spot, with their wings outstretched and motionless. Of course, it was managed by taking advantage of the pressure of a strong and steady breeze striking the face of the cliff and then being deflected upwards, but the grace and apparent ease of it were truly marvellous.

My brother was anxious to obtain a picture showing a good crowd of Gannets in it; and when he descended for that purpose to the very edge of the cliff, and began to stalk the birds (with his camera in front of him) from ledge to ledge—off any of which the slightest slip meant a headlong plunge of a hundred and fifty feet into the sea below—I saw one of the men who had accompanied us in the boat turn away, and heard him mutter to himself, "Venturesome divel! he'll never go off the Bass alive."

While we were at work a flock consisting of several hundreds left the rock, and, flying out into the Firth of Forth, went through a mazy sort of aërial waltz, which lasted half an hour.

The Bass Rock is a much easier and safer place to visit than Ailsa Craig, but, except in the case of Gannets, it is not so rich in sea-bird life.

Whilst walking round the loose sides of the latter, Puffins scuttle out of every conceivable and inconceivable hole and cranny, and are easily

COMMON GULL’S NEST.

PUFFINS AT HOME.

27U WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA.

caught as they tumble clown the steep hillside leading to the edge of the cliff, where they gain wing and fly away out to sea. At the Bass, Tammy Norie, as they are called, were by no means numerous last summer, and hundreds of forsaken

NE3T OF BLACK-HEADED GULL.

l)urrows, stuffed almost full of whid-drifted feathers, gave the place the appearance of an old worked-out mining district.

A Puffin is a grotes(iue-looking bird at any linu^ during the breeding season, ])ut to watch three or four standing on a piece of tind)er Ijobbing u]) and down in a fairly rough sea is an extremely comical siii'ht.

YOUNG GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS.

Great numbers of these birds breed at the Saltee Ishmds, where Ave obtained the photograph from which the picture on page 269 has been reproduced. On the small islands forming part of the Inner and Outer Hebridean groups, we have met with the Great lilack-backed and Common Gulls, and

SCOULTON MERE

their nests, eggs, and young, but nowhere in Inrge numbers. We have twice visited Scoulton Mere, in Norfolk, and punted across to the boggy reed-clad island in the middle of it, where breed one of the largest colonies of Black-headed Gidls to be met with in the British Isles. When Avitliin seven or eight miles of the Mere the visitor Ix'conies aware of the })resence of the lairds, for they are in every field where the ])loiigli is at work, following it just like rooks. ^ "^I'lieir eggs are collected at the

beginning of the season and sold for consumption as human food. Some idea may bo gathered of the magnitude of this colony when it is mentioned that as many as 20,000 eggs have been gathered in a single spring. The outside number of a clutch of Black-headed GulFs eggs is three; and althouo-h the birds lav ao-ain when robbed, second efforts are not molested. When we visited Scoulton in the summer of 1895, the rats appeared to he committing great havoc amongst the young birds, judging from the numbers of dead and j^artly devoured ones we saw lying about.

RAZORBILL AND EGG.

CHAPTER VIII.

: A DAY ON BRIGHTON now CAGE BIRDS ARE CAUGHT

DOWNS.

desirous of learning something of theBEING metliods employed in catching such of our feathered friends as give pleasure by their pretty songs or interesting habits to people who cannot jjossibly study them in their native wilds, my brother and I journeyed to Brighton, on the 7th November, 1896, in order to interview the bird-catchers and photograph them with their engines actually at work on the Downs.

The weather had been fine and settled all the week, and the sport in full progress; but no sooner had we reached our destination than it began to rain and blow in the most disheartening fashion, and we knew that unless a considerable change for the better took place, we were likely to have to return empty-lianded, for bird-catchers will not risk injury to their decoy bir^is Ijy taking them out in dirty wcatlier.

The following day dawned cold and liazy, with ii very strong wind blowing from the north-east. We had a walk over the Downs, l)iit did not see a single l)ir(l-maii out. In the course oi' oui- long ii'ump, however, we observed a Goldiincli or two, several flocks of Linnets and Greenfinches, Starlings and f^arks innunuM-able, l)esides thi'cc se])arate flights of I[ous(! jMai'tins. The lii'sl two companies, consisting of three and six birds respcctivcl', wei-c fiyinu' due

west in the strono-est and most business-like fashion, and the third, containing- four individuals, in exactly the opposite direction. As our chances of doing-better on the morrow were more or less problematical, we returned to town without even having unpacked the camera. November being, according to our veteran naturalist friend, Mr. Swaysland, one of the best months in the year for our purpose, we hurried down again at the end of the week, and arrived at Brighton in time to hear all the cabbies in the station crying-out, "Motor car! Motor car, sir!" in anticipation of the horseless vehicles which made their historic initial run from London on that date. I have good reason for remembering- the introduction of motor cars, for on the f(jllowing day, after having obtained permission to ride on one for a short distance, the thing suddenly went wrong, and although I patiently waited for an hour and a half in a biting cold wind, it utterly refused to make a start. Whatever may be the ultimate development of these vehicles it is impossible to foretell, but a great deal of uncertainty prevailed in regard to their movements when they were first introduced to our public roads. The engineer in charge of the one in question told me that it had been driven an aggregate of ten thousand miles on the Continent without a hitch, and that its refusal to start was inexplicable.

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