an undertaking which, though dangerous from the looseness of the rock, was by no means so difficult as in some places which I had previously attempted. The usual way in which the ropes are managed is this: one is fastened under the arms, and paid out by the man above as the climber descends; and another is held or fastened to a stake above, and thrown over the cliff, so that the man who is descending can use it to take his weight off the other rope. In this way two men can help each other so as to get almost anywhere. The natives, from constant practice, have wonder- ful judgment in selecting the easiest places; and if they were always care- ful, an accident would be of rare occurrence: but the younger men are too fond of casting off the rope and trusting to their own skill; in this way three lives have been lost in the last few years. It also often happens that stones become dislodged and fall on the head of the climber, who may be unable to avoid them; and in this way I had a very narrow escape while descending the cliffs on the south side of the island on another occasion.
On arriving at the first ledge, where the fulmars were, I had no difficulty in collecting the eggs, which were laid in small holes amongst the stones, or in the turf, on a few bits of grass or stems of the sea-pink, which, however, were so slight as hardly to keep the egg from the bare ground. The birds were very tame, and sometimes allowed themselves to be caught with the hand. The eggs were quite fresh; and all that I took on this part of the cliff were distinctly marked with reddish-brown dots and freckles, which did not appear to have been produced by any foreign substance, as the shell was otherwise clean. I cannot account for these marks in any way, as all the eggs from other places were spotless.
After I had collected a few, I came up and got one of the natives to go down to show us his way of catching birds. He took a rod about ten feet long, with a horsehair noose at the end, and slipped this cleverly over the heads of the fulmars, whose necks he then broke and tied them in bunches of five to the end of the rope. I asked him why he killed so many, as I only wanted a few; and he said that if the egg was taken it was best to catch the bird also as she would lay no more that year.
The fulmar, when caught, vomits from its mouth (and not from its nostrils, as is usually stated) nearly a wineglassful of clear yellow oil, with minute green particles floating in it. This oil has a very strong smell, and when kept becomes of a dark red colour, like raspberry vinegar, The St. Kildans collect a large quantity of this oil, by making the birds vomit it into the dried gullets of solan geese, which are hung on strings when full; and a good deal of grease is also obtained by boiling down the young fulmars, which are one mass of fat.
All the fulmars I caught on the nest were females; and I remarked that the eye is not yellow, as is generally stated in books, but black, or dark brown. The stomach is filled with an oily fluid, in which are the horny mandibles of some cuttle-fish, and a greenish substance, which I believe is sorrel, as that plant grows in great abundance on the rocks, and, as the people say, is probably taken by the birds to correct the oiliness of their diet. The feathers of the breast are unusually thick and close; and there was a bare hollow place on the stomach, of the same size and shape as the egg.
