AMONG THE WaTER FowL 
nests were placed touching one another. Nearly all 
of them held three or four very rough - looking, 
dirty white eggs, that seemed to be covered with a 
sort of chalky deposit, which can be scraped off, 
when a harder bluish shell is exposed. In one nest 
there were six eggs, and on previous visits I had 
seen seven and eight. Many of the eggs seemed 
fresh, but in a few cases one or two young had 
hatched. I doubt if there is in bird-world any- 
thing uglier than a young Cormorant, blind and 
naked, with a slimy looking black skin. 
My companion and the guide now rowed off to 
the next island, while I remained to see what I could 
do at photographing the Ring-billed Gulls, which I 
noticed settled on their nests whenever we kept out 
of sight. I selected a spot where there were a num- 
ber of nests quite close together, just above the top 
of the beach: Here was a sort of windrow of 
stones, piled up by the waves, just near enough to 
the nests to be useful. Removing some of the 
stones, I made a level spot for the camera, focused 
it so as to take in half a dozen of the nests, cov- 
ered it with the cloth, attached the spool of strong 
thread and set the shutter, then piled up stones 
around and upon it, except in front. Carefully I 
unwound and laid the thread along the beach nearly 
the whole length of the 200-yard spool. ‘To where 
the thread ended I brought the old sail, and lay 
down under it. After some hovering the Gulls 
began one by one to alight, until at last there 
seemed to be quite a number of them in front of 
the camera. I was too far away to see just when 
things were at their best; but, as general conditions 
150 
