Upon the edge of the rock a beam is run out horizontally; to this beam a two-inch rope, which is not less than nine hundred feet in length, is attached. To the end of this immense line a plank is tied, upon which the fowler seats himself. This man holds in his hand a light cord for the purpose of signalling to his companions above. The fowler, thus seated, descends from cliff to cliff, and from rock to rock; he visits every nook and cranny in search of plunder, making an ample harvest of eggs and birds, either taking them by hand, or striking them with the end of his line. The product of his perilous expedition he places in a sort of haversack, which he carries slung from the shoulder. When he wishes to change his place, he gives a preconcerted signal with his cord, imparting an oscillating motion to it in the direction of that part of the rock he wishes to visit. When the harvest is deemed sufficient--when the day's sport is concluded--his companions are notified, and the fowler is hoisted to the summit of the cliff. How incredible is the address, and how great the courage, required to induce a man to let himself be suspended by a slender cord over a precipice some hundreds of feet in height, and how hazardous, how frightful the peril! The cord might be cut by chafing against the sharp rock. What risks he runs on changing his place! It has sometimes happened to those above to hear one loud heart-rending shriek--the cry of despair. The men who hold the rope lean forward--they see nothing--they hear only the great voice of the sea, which drowns all other sounds as it breaks against the island. They hasten to draw up the cord--alas! its reduced weight too plainly tells what has happened! The fowler has been seized with vertigo; or, probably, he has overreached himself and lost his equilibrium on the slippery stones, and the wave which roars at the base of this wall of rock has closed over him. It is such accidents as these which induce the inhabitant of the Feroë Islands, when he leaves his house on such an expedition, to bid farewell to his family. Fatal catastrophes, however, are not very frequent. Men who live in those climates which nature seems to have, as it were, disinherited, become accustomed to struggle with the elements, and almost always to triumph over the dangers which surround them. They go to demand from the abyss food for their wives and children, and the idea animates and sustains their courage. THE COMMON GUILLEMOT (_Uria Troile_). ENGLISH SYNONYMS.--Lesser Guillemot: Montagu. Foolish Guillemot: Montagu, Selby, Willock, Linn. Marrot, Scout, Sea-Hen, Scuttock: Local. LATIN SYNONYMS.--_Uria Troile_: McGillivray, Latham, Jenyns, Bonaparte. _Colymbus Troile_: Latham. FRENCH SYNONYM.--_Guillemot à capuchon_.