198 HILLSIDE, ROCK, AND DALE 



remain in their underground home for at least three 

 weeks. Herring-fry is their chief food, and the 

 parents may be seen with four' or five of these in 

 their beaks, flying with great regularity towards their 

 burrows. The bright, horny sheath which covers the 

 birds' bills is shed in the winter months, and the 

 beak is then considerably smaller. Puffins are expert 

 divers, and will remain under water for a long time. 

 They fly enormous distances in search of food as 

 much as fifty miles sometimes. I have often met with 

 numbers of them in the North Sea in the breeding 

 season quite forty miles from the nearest land. 



The birds which were of great interest to me on 

 the Fame Islands were the cormorants. There are 

 two colonies, the best- known being that on the 

 Harcars, the other is on the most distant of the 

 islands the Megstone Rock. We visited both, and 

 photographed the birds and nests. Those on the 

 Harcars are the best for the photographer, for they 

 allow a nearer approach. On the days we visited 

 both colonies the birds were not in their most 

 amiable mood, and would not let us get too close. 

 However, by gradually working closer and exposing 

 plates at each stopping stage, we were able to secure 

 some satisfactory pictures. When all the birds had 

 left, we went among the nests and photographed 

 these, some being nearly a yard high and might be 

 called pinnacles of seaweed, others are only about 



