Habits of Cormorants — A Kingfisher, 107 



superannuated trees, formed a truly dismal spectacle. They uttered, 

 too, a peculiar cawing sound, which was not cheerful, and so 

 remarkably like the grunting of a pig, that before I saw the 

 rookery I was for some time peeping through the bushes and 

 looking for tracks, imagining myself in the neighbourhood of 

 some new pachydermatous animal. It seemed as if the birds 

 took the grunting business by turns, only one at a time giving 

 tongue. 



I was surprised to see how neatly they alighted on the branches. 

 There was none of the awkward shuffling motion of wings and 

 feet which they exhibit when alighting on the ground or on the 

 water ; but, on the contrary, each fresh arrival soared on to its 

 perching place as smoothly and cleverly as a hawk, and grasped 

 the branch firmly with its claws. At another tree rookery in 

 Swallow Bay I noticed that when some of the birds on flying 

 in observed my presence, they would rise high above the tree, and 

 remain soaring around in circles till I had gone away. The 

 method of soaring was to all appearance as smooth, steady, and 

 devoid of effort as that of a vulture. And yet the cormorant is a 

 heavy short-winged bird, that rises from the ground with difficulty, 

 and whose ordinary method of flight is most laborious. 



The handsomest bird in this region is the kingfisher {Ceryle 

 stellatd). It is commonly to be seen perched on some withered 

 branches overhanging the water, where it will remain in a 

 huddled-up sleeping attitude, its head turned sideways, but with 

 an eye all the time fixed intently on the water beneath, until 

 it espies a fish, when it drops like a stone, cleaving the water 

 with a short sharp splash, and a moment afterwards emerges 

 with an upward impulse, which raises it clear of the water, and 

 enables it to fly away at once without any preliminary shaking 

 or fluttering. It is an exceedingly unsuspicious and fearless 

 bird, and when perched on its place of observation, will often 

 allow one in a boat to approach within arm's reach of it. Mossy 

 banks overhanging low sea clifTs are its usus 1 nesting places, 



