2S ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



size as I slioitkl scarcely have supposed to have 

 been stowed away within that graceful neck, if 

 I had not been aware, from former observations 

 on the habits of cormorants and divers, how great 

 are the expansive properties of the gullet in all 

 piscivorous birds. After dropping it on the 

 floor of the nest, he commenced by repeated 

 blows of his beak, to lacerate and tear the flesh 

 from the bones, and seemed to accomplish his 

 task in an incredibly short space of time by 

 means of the admirable tool with which Nature 

 had furnished him, performing at once the double 

 duties of pickaxe and pincers ; then followed the 

 feeding of the young birds, and so economical 

 a housekeeper and skilful carver did he prove, 

 that when I had afterwards the curiosity to 

 ascend to his nest, I found, as the remains of the 

 repast little else than the back-bone of a fish 

 which might have weighed nearly a pound, with 

 only a few ragged bits of flesh adhering to it; 

 even the head had been devoured. 



Having secured this remnant, and taken a last 

 lino'erine' look at the inhabitants of the nest, who 

 were hardly fledged and allowed me to handle 

 them without resistance, I thought I had caused 

 sufficient disturbance among my feathered friends 

 for one day, and being well aware of the capri- 

 cious nature of this species, entire establishments 



