AMONG THE WATER FOWL 



nests were placed touching one another. Nearly all 

 of them held three or four very rough - looking, 

 dirty white eggs, that seemed to be covered with a 

 sort of chalky deposit, which can be scraped off, 

 when a harder bluish shell is exposed. In one nest 

 there were six eggs, and on previous visits I had 

 seen seven and eight. Many of the eggs seemed 

 fresh, but in a few cases one or two young had 

 hatched. I doubt if there is in bird-world any- 

 thing uglier than a young Cormorant, blind and 

 naked, with a slimy looking black skin. 



My companion and the guide now rowed off to 

 the next island, while I remained to see what I could 

 do at photographing the Ring-billed Gulls, which I 

 noticed settled on their nests whenever we kept out 

 of sight. I selected a spot where there were a num- 

 ber of nests quite close together, just above the top 

 of the beach. Here was a sort of windrow of 

 stones, piled up by the waves, just near enough to 

 the nests to be useful. Removing some of the 

 stones, I made a level spot for the camera, focused 

 it so as to take in half a dozen of the nests, cov- 

 ered it with the cloth, attached the spool of strong 

 thread and set the shutter, then piled up stones 

 around and upon it, except in front. Carefully I 

 unwound and laid the thread along the beach nearly 

 the whole length of the zoo-yard spool. To where 

 the thread ended I brought the old sail, and lay 

 down under it. After some hovering the Gulls 

 began one by one to alight, until at last there 

 seemed to be quite a number of them in front of 

 the camera. I was too far away to see just when 

 things were at their best; but, as general conditions 



150 



