142 



SPRING 



lee of an upstanding pinnacle ; and presently the male great 

 black-back struts slowly over the curve of the ridge, and 

 gazes menacingly at the world on this side. 



Gulls' nests are strewn about the cliffs from just beneath 

 the summit to the lowest ledges occasionally splashed with 

 the spray. They are loose beds of various kinds of vegeta- 

 tion, differing considerably in size and in the materials of 

 which they are built. The birds seldom carry material from 

 any great distance, but pull together the nearest stems, blades 





g|f^'#fpi 



GREAT BLACK-BACKS 



and tufts of that they can find. At the bottom of the cliffs 

 the nests will be largely built of dry seaweed ; further up, 

 grass and rock-plants will predominate, and sea-thrift and 

 campion blossoms will be worked into its sides. Cormorants 

 and shags chiefly build in caves and crevices of steep rocks 

 overhanging the sea, and except on small islets, can seldom 

 be seen from landward. In a few spots, as on the famous 

 Bird Rock on the River Dysynni near Towyn in Merioneth, 

 they breed on rocks some miles from the sea ; and in 

 some parts of the west of Ireland they even build in trees. 

 Now and then, where a steep face of rock stands obliquely 

 to the sea, a cormorant or shag will build on an inaccessible 



