348 OUR RARER BIRDS 



topmost branches, like that of the Heron or the Eook. I am 

 of opinion that the Cormorant pairs for life, judging from the 

 fact that its nest is yearly tenanted. Its breeding season is 

 in the month of May in some years not until early June, 

 according to the state of the weather. Sometimes the nests 

 are almost if not quite inaccessible. On Flamborough's 

 beetling cliffs or at the Feme Islands the nesting habits of 

 the Cormorant may readily be observed. The nest is built 

 upon the ledges, usually near the top of the cliffs, but some- 

 times midway down them. On the face of this stupendous 

 wall of cliff several Cormorants have built their nests let us 

 visit them and observe their peculiarities. Barefooted, and 

 aided by a rope, we are able to reach the nests, some thirty 

 feet from the summit. At our first appearance the sitting- 

 birds quit their homes and go far out to sea on rapid beat of 

 wing. We find the nests are made of sticks, weeds of various 

 kinds, turf, and fine grass much of it green. They are 

 bulky structures, and the smell from the decaying fish and 

 the droppings of the birds which pervades the entire place is 

 sickening in the extreme. 



The eggs of the Cormorant are two or three in number, in 

 some instances only one, and are precisely similar to those of 

 the Shag, but are on an average a little larger. They are 

 long and oval, and vary much in size. The Cormorant rears 

 but one brood in the season, but if its eggs are taken (as they 

 habitually are in many localities) fresh ones will be laid. The 

 young are reared in the nest, and fed on food disgorged by 

 the parents in a half-digested state. The Shag is similar in 

 this respect. 



On the low rocky islands Cormorants' nests are often 

 built so close together that it is almost impossible to walk 

 amongst them without injuring the contents. In these 

 situations the birds breed like Gannets, but the nests are 

 more bulky structures the largest and probably the oldest 



