196 



BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



whitewash-like dung adown the front of the post as he flies 

 lazily off to a distant post, secure from guns and other devilish 

 machines. Such is the reception given to the gunner by the 

 cormorant. But should the Broadsman get to windward of 

 him and maim him, he will, if captured alive, seize upon his 

 person, either hand or thigh, it matters not which. 



But he and his kind, the shags, are best seen by the rocky 

 shores of Mona. There all winter you shall see them sitting 

 on the rocks at low water fishing. Uncanny birds they 

 look, until their fierce-looking heads betray their tribe. 

 When the grey mists veil the hills of Wales, and Bangor 

 lights peep through the mists, often of an evening, too, you 

 shall see them flighting there down the Straits to the island 

 coast, flying black and swiftly against the azure, in bunches 

 of eight, nine, or ten. Or, on some bright sunny morning, 

 you may watch an old cormorant sitting on the Bell-light 

 surveying the Straits, a sentinel to the passing fish. But 

 he is essentially a bird of the sea, and therefore not a 

 resident of our swampy lands, and so not much is known 

 about him : he smells too — que voiilez vons de plus? 



cormorants' nesting-place [Chislebury Bay). 



