130 THE BIRDS OF BRECONSHIRE. 
droppings that fall beneath the nests 
and stain the surface of the rock. 
We watched the old birds, particularly 
the hens, feeding their young, and the 
flight of the parent birds as they circled 
and soared round the face of the rock, 
and particularly the flight of the large 
dark cock birds was grand in the 
extreme. The young, during the time 
they were being fed, made a continual 
querulous crying. Every now and then 
a Sparrowhawk would sweep round the 
face of the rock; instantly the old cock 
Cormorants would trumpet out their 
hoarse note of alarm and defiance, to be 
answered, in their turn, by the cries of 
the hens and young, making a babel of 
noise that must be heard to be under- 
stood. These sounds would ultimately 
die away, and perfect silence would reign 
until the appearance of another hawk 
would start afresh the trumpeting, and set 
the echoes replying. It was impossible 
for me to count the nests from where I 
was on the road, but at a rough guess 
I should say there were about thirty 
there then, but whether any young had 
flown I am unable to say. 
