CORMORANT— GULLS 323 



•which is always wet and dirty inside, and is an odoriferous mass of twigs, 

 plant-stalks, sea-weed, green leaves, and other matter. In some places there is 

 only one brood a year, but in others there are two ; the young of the first brood 

 leaving the nest at the end of June, those of the second in August. The eggs 

 nu 1 iiber from three to six, and are pale blue with a greenish white crust, but 

 during incubation they become so soiled that they appear to be marbled olive- 

 brown. 



The cormorant is very awkward on dry land, standing huddled up with its 

 breast raised, and its tail drooping, and is more at home when perching on trees, 

 the branches of which it clasps with its splay feet. It often fans its wings in 

 order to dry them, for, strangely enough, they do not readily throw otf the water. 

 The flight is straight and low, a few powerful strokes sending the bird gliding 

 along with wings straight out, head stretched forward, and legs tucked up, almost 

 skimming the crests of the waves. In the water it is active and at home, divine 

 noiselessly to a considerable depth, remaining under for three minutes or more at 

 a time, and coming up perhaps a hundred yards from where it went down. It 

 can catch not only the quickest fish but even flat-fish on the bottom, and has been 

 known to bring up soles from a depth of over twenty fathoms : it can swallow 

 fish up to 2| inches in width and a foot long, and eels, of which :+ is particularly 

 fond, even when measuring so much as 24 inches. 



In England and Scotland the cormorant is mostly a coast-bird, though it 

 journeys for some distance up the larger rivers. In Ireland it is found not only 

 on the coast but on the inland lakes, where it breeds in some places associated 

 with herons on high trees. In north Germany it is most frequent on the lower 

 Oder and in Pomerania, whence, as from a centre, it wanders in all directions, 

 mostly in the autumn, and always up rivers with plenty of fish. On the coast 

 of Scandinavia the cormorant is a common bird, and it inhabits many inland 

 waters in Sweden, Denmark, Holland, France, and Sardinia. In many parts of 

 Hungary it is abundant, especially on the Danube down to the Dobrudscha ; 

 on the inland waters of Russia, which are so rich in fish, it is found in great 

 numbers ; and in winter it appears on the Mediterranean and in North Africa. 

 Besides Europe, it is spread over Asia, right across to Japan and down to Burma, 

 and beyond ; and it also occurs on the Atlantic coast of North America. The 

 cormorant has a hoarse, raven-like voice, and is brilliant greenish black in colour, 

 the feathers of the back and wings being of a dark coppery brown with blackish 

 edges ; the face and chin are bare, the cheeks white, the beak brown, and the 

 feet black. In spring the cormorant has a white patch on the thigh, and a 

 crest of white hair-like feathers on the head and neck, which disappear after 

 the breeding-season. 



Black headed or Although gulls, as a rule, are birds of the seashore, a few 



Laughing GuiL ]j ve on inland waters, and in central Europe generally the most 



noticeable of these is the black-headed, or laughing gull (Larus ridibundus). 



Lakes and rivers bordered with reeds, flags, tall grasses, and other marsh-plants. 



are its summer-haunts, in which it appears about the end of March, and leaves 



again in July and August. In winter many of these gulls are found in Greece 



