oming swell and thus become untenable. There is
a small cove in the midst of the most precipitous part of the breeding
station at Horn Head, wherein the shingly shore shelves rapidly to the
Atlantic and faces to the west. Here, towards the end of July, young
Kittiwake Gulls can sometimes be found washed up on the beach--some
living, but in every stage of exhaustion, others dead, and in every
stage of decomposition; here is the young bird, recently caught by the
swell and thrown upon the shore, lying side by side with the remains of
others that had previously succumbed to starvation--on every side
evidence of the devastation wrought by the Atlantic. May not some of
this destruction have been brought about by the nests having been placed
upon the lower ledges within reach of an exceptionally heavy sea? Hence
much depends upon the nature of the rock-formation, and many a mighty
precipice, even though it may fulfil the first and third condition, is
nevertheless valueless as a breeding station.

Finally, the young bird must occupy a ledge from which it can reach the
water in safety. There is much difference of opinion as to the manner in
which it leaves the ledge, but all agree that it does so before it is
capable of sustained flight. If, then, the face of the cliffs were made
up of a series of broken precipices, or if the rocks at the base
projected out into the water, or if detached rocks abounded in the
waters beneath, the mortality amongst the chicks would no doubt be
considerable.

The coast-line of Co. Donegal will illustrate the foregoing remarks. On
the southern and western side of the Slieve League promontory there is
no real Guillemot station; only on the northern side--the quartzite in
the vicinity of Tormore--are the birds to be found in large numbers.
Northwards from here, a wild and rugged coast is passed over before
other stations are reached--at the eastern end of Tory Island and on
Horn Head; and beyond this, to the east, there are none, not even on the
old rocks that form the promontory of Inishowen. Why, we ask, do
countless numbers crowd the ledges of Horn Head, whilst they are absent
from the precipices of Slieve League; why, too, are they absent from
the granite cliffs of Owey? The reason is not far to seek. Either the
face of the cliff is made up of a series of broken precipices, or the
face of the precipices is too smooth, or the otherwise suitable ledges
are situated too near the water, or the water