THE BIRDS OF BRECONSHIRRE. I29 
1887, I paid a visit to Craig-y-Deryn, 
the Bird Rock, near Towyn, one 
of the principal breeding places of 
the Cormorant in Wales. This rock 
stands boldly out, a most conspicuous 
object on the left-hand side of the valley 
looking down towards Towyn, and is 
precipitous on the two sides jutting out 
into the valley; but its top may be 
reached by walking over the hill from 
the valley behind it. These two Sides, 
like a miniature Gibraltar, are nearly 
perpendicular, and it is on the ledges of 
the side facing towards Cader Idris that 
the Cormorant builds and rears its young 
in safety. The guide-books do not give 
the height of the rock, but I should 
Say it would be about 4ooft., more or 
less.* I know the Cormorants looked 
very small from where we stood. A 
road skirts the bottom, and the nests, 
with the young, for the most part about 
three-parts grown, were easily dis- 
tinguishable from the quantity of white 
Saar 
* A friend of mine has since, by means of an 
aneroid barometer, determined the highest point 
to be 650 feet, and the precipitous sides about 
550 feet. 
