A HOUSE OF MANY DOORS 53 



father cormorant leave the nest of babies unpro- 

 tected for one instant and down swoops the baby- 

 eating gull and gobbles them up. 



Yes, gobbles them, swallows them whole. Then 

 would you not say it was strange to see a cormo- 

 rant 's nest full of growing babies, and two feet 

 away on the same shelf of rock, a gull's nest full 

 of growing babies, especially with the old gulls 

 watching every minute to pounce upon the young 

 cormorants? Strange enough. 



But the old cormorants never give the greedy 

 gulls a chance to pounce upon their babies. For, 

 when one cormorant goes off to sea for fish, the 

 mate is standing by to spread its wings over its 

 young to protect them from their enemy. They 

 are never for an instant left uncovered. 



So here are their nests, side by side, as close as 

 plates on a dinner table ; and here the birds multi- 

 ply and people the rocks tall black cormorants, 

 great foam-white gulls so eternally watchful are 

 the parent cormorants. 



A baby cormorant is never out of its father's 

 or mother's arms not until it is too big for the 

 gobbling gulls to swallow. 



