Cormorants That Make Great Noise and Seem Ready to 

 Attack a Man. 



I discovered no organization of any kind amongst the birds 

 in either of the three colonies described. I think none of 

 these birds would attack a man although they make a great 

 noise and often act as if they would fight. We sent a boy up 

 to one of the heron's nests and one of the birds acted very 

 threatening but he never came closer to the boy than six feet 

 which was, however, close enough to make the boy quite 

 nervous. None of the colonies as far as I could discover had 

 any special sentinels but as a number of birds are always at 

 home, it is quite impossible to approach any nest without be- 

 ing observed. The instinct or intelligence of the birds has 

 taught them that living in colonies affords them almost per- 

 fect protection against their natural four-footed and winged 

 enemies. Although these large birds cannot hide their nests; 

 they do two things for the safety of their eggs and young 

 they band together for common protection and they select 

 nesting sites as nearly inaccessible as possible. This inac- 

 cessibility some attain by nesting on very tall trees, which is 

 the habit of herons. At Lake Itasca, I found the herons nest- 

 ing in the tops of slim Norway pines a hundred and fifty feet 

 high. The gulls prefer uninhabited islands. The Siskowit 

 Islands support a growth of brush and small trees; they are 

 not inhabited by either wolves, foxes, minks or other flesh- 

 eating animals, so the eggs and young are safe from these 

 common enemies of all wild life. Cormorants are exceedingly 

 versatile in accomplishments and habits. They are excellent 

 swimmers, divers, flyers and perchers and they nest either on 

 tall trees or on the ground on small uninhabited islands. 



The Birds in Bands, Fight Off Eagles or Hawks When 

 Threatened. 



Eagles or hawks might, of course, visit all of such colonies 

 but I have never seen one of these birds even near one of the 

 bird cities; they evidently think that a bird town would not 

 be pleasant hunting grounds. No doubt a dozen of spear-billed 



13 



