BIRDS OF THE SEA-SHORE. 



279 



The Jackdaw (Corvus moneduld) often builds in holes in high 

 cliffs. We have found its nest far inside a rabbit hole that 

 was probably never intended by the rabbit as a means of 

 entrance to or exit from his burrow, but as a secluded place 

 whence he could look out upon the blue sea hundreds of feet 

 below. But the rabbit had probably been evicted, or had 

 fallen a prey to the ravens that built hard by, and the Jackdaw 

 had taken possession. I knew the nest was there from watch- 

 ing the excursions of the old birds, but it was only by lying 

 along a dangerously narrow ledge and pushing my arm in, 

 right up to the shoulder, that I could feel the nest and count 

 the heads of the five young Jacks. The nest of the Raven 

 (Corvus corax) was in a hole so high up the perfectly straight 

 face of the rock, that its entrance could only be reached by a 

 person swung from the cliff fifty feet above it. All one could 

 do was to watch the young birds fly out in a batch and hear 

 the parental croaking that was evidently intended as approba- 

 tion of their progress. 



But to get to the distinctly maritime species, and first those 

 of the Pelican family. We 

 have two native species of 

 Cormorant, the Common 

 Cormorant (Phalacrocorax 

 carbd) and the Shag (P. 

 graculus}. The Common 

 Cormorant, Great Black 

 Cormorant, Cole Goose, 

 or Skart, as it is variously 

 styled in different localities, 

 is a bird of the rock-bound 

 coast, where there are detached masses of rock forming little 

 islets, and where the face of the high cliffs is broken into 

 narrow ledges. Such a coast will have at distances of a few 

 miles its Shag-rocks and Shag-stones, which are well-marked 

 by an abundant coating of white-wash. These are the 



