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The Egg Harvest:
Seabirds nesting on coastal cliffs provided eggs—collected during nesting season (spring and early summer), the eggs were substantial food source.
Egg collecting was dangerous—requiring climbing steep cliffs, reaching into precarious nests, maintaining balance while wind battered the collector. Falls were common, fatal.
But the reward was significant—seabird eggs were large, nutritious, and so numerous that sustainable harvest was possible without threatening bird populations.
The Birds Themselves:
Young birds (before they could fly) were sometimes harvested—taken from nests, killed, cooked. This was opportunistic hunting, supplementing the primary egg harvest.
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