76 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



preferred to herrings. After having his fill, he 

 would hop on to a favourite stone and resume his 

 usual occupation meditating. If, at one o'clock, 

 he was surfeited with some four or five whitings, 

 the tail of the last one still protruding from the 

 corner of his bill, for want of room, at two o'clock 

 he was, like Oliver Twist, "asking for more," and 

 could easily swallow a couple of others. Digestion 

 was remarkably rapid; 3 to 4 Ibs. of fish were 

 devoured daily. He did not vomit the bones of 

 fish, as did my tame shag; his "mill,'" indeed, 

 "grinding exceeding small. 1 ' I never saw him 

 attempt to drink, although his plumage was kept 

 clean and well groomed, and a dropping of water 

 after meals was always noticeable at his mandible- 

 tip. He did not protest, however, against water 

 being thrown over him. 



In May the passing over of a Cormorant, just 

 within my vision and his greatly disturbed him, 

 and he commenced, and kept up for days, a frequent 

 hop round his establishment, from stone to stone, 

 and to a stunted tree-trunk, carrying small faggots 

 in his mandibles, as if suggesting to himself the 

 delights of housekeeping. 



Seventeen were seen on 19th May 1892 on Breydon. 



