28 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



from former observations on the habits of cormo- 

 rants and divers, how great are the expansive pro- 

 perties of the gullet in all piscivorous birds. After 

 dropping it on the floor of the nest he commenced 

 by repeated blows of his beak, to lacerate and 

 tear the flesh from the bones, and seemed to 

 accomplish his task in an incredibly short space of 

 time by means of the admirable tool with which 

 Nature had furnished him, performing at once the 

 double duties of pickaxe and pincers ; then fol- 

 lowed the feeding of the young birds, and so eco- 

 nomical a housekeeper and skilful carver did he 

 prove, that when I had afterwards the curiosity to 

 ascend to his nest, I found, as the remains of the 

 repast, little else than the back-bone of a fish 

 which might have weighed nearly a pound, with 

 only a few ragged bits of flesh adhering to it ; 

 even the head had been devoured. 



Having secured this remnant, and taken a last 

 lingering look at the inhabitants of the nest, who 

 were hardly fledged and allowed me to handle 

 them without resistance, I thought 1 had caused 

 sufficient disturbance among my feathered friends 

 for one day, and being well aware of the capri- 

 cious nature of this species, entire establishments 

 of which have been known to desert their ances- 

 tral abodes, disgusted at the felling of a single 

 tree; and knowing with what anxious care they 



