•202 



Pictures of Bird Life 



among tlie campion, where they are perfectly hidden, and 

 at tlie foot of tlie ruined buildings or inside the rooHess 

 walls. 



On the rocks at the water's edge was a Hock of about 



thirty Eiders. 



mostly ducks. 



Cormorant {Phalacyocorax caii/o). 



but 



anions' 



them were a 

 few drakes. 

 Only one of 

 these was in 

 the beautifid 

 male plumage 

 — the others 

 had begun to 

 assume the 

 duck plumage, 

 and were in 

 ••eclipse" 

 dress, a very 

 interesting 

 sight. 



Farther on 



was a small flock of five or six Oyster-catchers, uttering 

 their somewhat plainti\-e pipe as they searched the seaweed- 

 covered rocks, unco\-ered by the falling tide. Close to 

 an old wreck, cast up high and dry by the fierce gales 

 of winter, was a nest belonging to some of them. This 



