CHAPTER VII 

 Watching Shags and Guillemots 



I HAVE referred once or twice before to the cor- 

 morant (including under this title the shag), and once 

 to the guillemot. In this chapter I shall treat of 

 both these birds a little more at large, for in the 

 first place they are salient amongst sea fowl, giving 

 a distinctive character to the wild places that they 

 haunt, and secondly, I have watched them closely and 

 patiently. Both are interesting, and the cormorant 

 especially has a winning and amiable character, which 

 I shall the more enjoy bringing before the public 

 because I think that up to the present scant justice 

 has been done to it. Something, perhaps, of the wild 

 and fierce attaches to the popular idea of this bird, 

 due, no doubt, both to its appearance, which has in 

 it something dark and evil-looking, and to the stern, 

 wild scenery of rock and sea with which this is in 

 consonance, and by which it is emphasised. Perhaps 

 the mere name even, which has by no means a harm- 

 less sound, has something to do with it. 

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