THE QUEST FOR THE CORMORANT '& NEST 165 



keep from sight until the double discharge of my gun 

 awoke the echoes along the shore. 



In this region my guide had said that we should surely 

 find the nests of the "nigger geese," and it certainly 



seemed that at last we might be approaching the summer 

 haunts of the cormorant, for the place appeared free 

 enough from the intrusions of man to suit the tastes of the 

 wildest bird. And we found them! Low spreading 

 cypress trees, their tops reaching as a rule not more than 

 twelve or fifteen feet above the water, were the sites chosen 

 for the nests. Eighteen trees, scattered along the shore 

 for a mile and a half, were thus used. A few trees con- 

 tained only one nest each, some were occupied by two, 

 while in others six, eight, ten, and even twelve nests were 

 noted. One tree contained thirty-eight cormorant houses, 

 each with its eggs or young birds. The number of occu- 

 pants to the nest was in all cases either two or three. One 

 hundred and fifty inhabited nests were counted. 



