SOUTH CORNWALL. 29 
ten yards broad, and as no boat could be got, the idea was to try and drop one 
on this strip, as they ran or rather flew the gauntlet between the island and the 
mainland. We sat down half way up the cliff and watched the Shags fishing 
or preening themselves on an adjacent rock, some of the attitudes they adopted 
being quite unlike anything I had ever seen in a book. One came and swam 
right under us in typical waterlogged style, and we might perhaps have shot 
it, but refrained from doing so, as the body would have drifted out to sea. 
At length, as the evening wore on, a spirit of unrest came over the whole 
company. They took wing, singly and in pairs, and began flying round the 
island. Several came towards us and appeared certain to cross the fatal strip, 
but they always swerved off before they got within shot, though they had 
passed readily enough on the previous day when we had no guns. While 
we wondered at their refusal to pass us, a peal of laughter from the top of 
the cliff revealed the fact that we were not its only occupants. <A picnic party 
was just breaking up and starting off for its char-a-banc. We also bethought 
us, that though better sheltered, we were a shade lower down than on the 
preceding day, and, as the sun was now sinking, we hurried off to the top of 
the cliff. Though little time remained, and the birds were beginning to settle 
down for the night, we were destined to get a shot after all. Just as we were 
departing, a single bird arose, whirled high once or twice round the top of the 
island, and then made a sudden dash for the gully. It came through at a 
terrific pace, but we both managed to fire while it was above the strip. There 
was a wild stagger, and I thought for the moment it was down, but unfor- 
tunately it just recovered itself and, skimming away on a rapidly declining 
course, it succeeded in rounding the island, and fell heavily some distance 
out at sea. 
It was too dark now to hope for any further shots, and we had to abandon 
all hopes of getting a Shag during our visit. The Cormorant is almost equally 
common along this coast, and at Mullion, on an outlying island, there is a 
Puffin colony, while at the pretty little village of Cadgwith the Kittiwake is 
numerous and absurdly tame, sitting quietly on the lowest rocks while the 
boats pass close to it on their way into the cove. In winter Golden Plover 
are said to be plentiful on the moors, and also Duck; but past experience of 
the value of local statements on such subjects would make me chary in these 
days of going bail for the appearance of any species of the Anatide. 
