The morning call., 1892-12-28
AN. ARDENT. SPORT

This is the guillefnet season.
Between the 1st-of' April aud the end.of
May, before the Parisians arrived to battle,
several old gentlemen appear on the little
shore. of Etretat, booted and dressed like
hunters. They spend four or five days at
the Hauvilie Hotel, disappear, return three
weeks later, and then, alter another stay,
take their fnal Departure. The following
spring. they are back again.
They are the last of The guillemot hunters
of Old These fellows were absolute fanatics,
but that was thirty or. forty years ago.
There: are now only a few such devoted
hunters left.
The guillemot Is very rare bird. and his
habits are very strange. They live almost
the whole year on the shores of Newfound-
land and the islands OF ST. Pierre and
Miquelon, but when they begin to pair, O
band of emigrants crosses the ocean and
every year comes to lay eggs and hatch the
young ones in the same spot. on rock
called the Rock of the Guilemots. They
have always come; they have always been
hunted. and they will continue to come. As
soon as the young birds learn to fly they set
out.again and disappear for another year.
Why dQ.they not go to some other place
Why do they not choose some other point
of that long white cliff that runs, without
a break, from Calais to Havre? What in-
fluence. what undyiDg instinct, W hat ancient
habit makes these birds return after this
fashion, WHAT. former migration, what
tempest in time of yoTe threw their ances-
tors ON that rock? And why. should the
children the grandchildren and all the
descendants OF the first ones continue to re-
turn2
The birds are not numerous. A hun
dred or more, as II the tradition we're con-
fFla6 family this ANIMAL NIL =
grimage.
And each spring, just as the little wan
derfng tribe install themselves on the rock.
the satne hunters likewise reappeAr in the
village The iownspeople knew them
when they were young; they are old now,
but still Constant TO the established rendez-
yons where they have not met for thirty or
forty years. On no account would they fail
TO be there.
It was An April evening of late years.
Three of the old guillemot hunters had just
come. but the party lacked one, N. d'Ar-
nefles.
He had written to no one, and no one had
heard anything about him. Nevertheless,
thsy were sure he was not dead, like so
many of: the others; for they would have
known it,. At last. tired OF waiting, the frs t
: corners sat down at table. and the dinner
was near Its. end when a carriage rolled
:. foiied into the yard Of the hotel, and pres
WHY tHC solb1 OuC appCdlcus
He took his seat ioyously, rubbing his
hands. and when one OF his companions
expressed surprise that he should be wear
Ing frock coat he replied calmly:
Yes, i have not had time to change it."
They all went to bed as soon as they rose
from the table. for. in order to surprise the
70 birds. it is necessary to start out before
daybreak.
There Is nothing so fascinating as this
hlnd Oh q: hunt, this early morning expedi-
About o'clock In the morning sailors
awake the hunters by throwing gravel
: againstthe window-panes. In few min ties
they are ready and 60 down to the water
gate Although the dawn has not yet shown
tseif yes, the stars are beginning to grow
pale The sea grinds the shngle of the
beach and the bre.ze is so fresh that the
hunters shiyer little in spite of their
heavy coats.
Presently two boats. pushed By men. run
mp Sharply on the beach Of round pebbles,
making note like the tearing Of linen, and
a moment later they are floating on the
waves. The brown sail glides up the mast.
flaps little. trembles, hesitates, and then
bellying out roundly bears the tarry cockle-
shell toward the westerly gateway. vaguely
distinguished in the distance.
:. The sky clears; the shadows seem to melt
away; but the coast still appears as through
vail-the great white coast, straight as q
wall.
They dart through the gateway of Man,
an enormous vault through which q ship
might sail; they double the point Of Cour-
tine. pass the valley OF Antifer and the cape
of-that name. and suddenly they see a beach
lined with hundreds of guils. There is the
Rock of the Guillemots.
1t is nothing but little projection OF the
cliff, aud from the narrow ledges of the rock
the heads OF the birds pr0trude, looking at
the boats.
There they are, motionless, waiting,
afrald to .f1y away. Some of them, perched
on the outermost shelves, look like bottles,
for their feet are so short that they seem
when they walk to glide as if on wheels.
They are unable TO take wing quickly, and
In order to fly away they have first TO lei
themselves fall almost at the feet Of the
men who lie in wait for them. They know