The Scotiish Naturalist. 259 



minute, bearing an eel or a trout in its long hooked bill. The 

 Cormorant is a very voracious feeder, and has great powers of 

 digestion. Mr St John relates that one shot on the Beauly river 

 in January 1850 was found to have swallowed a kelt grilse weigh- 

 ing above 4 lb. and measuring 22 inches in length : the tail of 

 the fish actually extended out of the mouth of the bird. 



To see the Cormorant, or indeed any bird, aright, one must 

 visit their native haunts, and see them at home. In the summer 

 of 1874 I visited Shetland, where these birds are very plentiful. 

 There it was quite a conniion occurrence to see from twelve to 

 twenty, all in a row, on the top of some favourite rock, in the act 

 of drying their wings as already described. I can well remember 

 the first shot I had at the Cormorants. We sailed to within forty 

 or fifty yards of the birds, and getting them in line, I expected to 

 make great havoc amongst them. I fired, when in they plunged 

 in a body. I thought that I would at least have had the pleasure 

 of picking up two or three good specimens ; but fancy my cha- 

 grin on finding that they had been too wide-awake for me, as I 

 believe that, by the time the shot reached the rock on which 

 they were sitting, they had either disappeared or were fast dis- 

 appearing into the sea. Presently, near the spot where the Cor- 

 morants sank, as if into a watery grave, the head and a part of 

 the arched neck of one cautiously appears above the sea, with a 

 knowing look, as much as to say, I am all alive and kicking : 

 another and another head and neck appear above the tide, again 

 to be mysteriously withdrawn. This is repeated until the source 

 of danger has disappeared. A young Cormorant was shot on the 

 Tay, near Ballathie, last autumn. 



II. Canada Goose [Ber?iida canadensis, L.) — In February 

 1868 my father shot a fine specimen on the Tay, near the Stor- 

 montfield ponds; but whether a tame bird, escaped from an orna- 

 mental water, or a wild visitor, is uncertain. These birds are, 

 however, so frequently obtained all over the country, without 

 bearing any marks of captivity, that it is not improbable occa- 

 sional flocks may visit us from Greenland or the American 

 continent. This bird weighed 11 lb. ; it was 3 feet 6 inches in 

 length ; and when the wings were extended, it measured nearly 

 7 feet from tip to tip. It is black on the head and neck ; the 

 back is dusky black ; on the chin and throat is a white stripe, 

 widest in the centre, and gradually running to a point on the 

 sides of the neck, somewhat resembling a cravat. It is nearly 

 white on the breast, and ash-coloured below. 



