76 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



"well from observing pairs, sometimes both of the all- 

 over-dark-coloured variety, sometimes both of the 

 white-bellied, sometimes one of each. There is also 

 a marked difference in the colour of the young birds — 

 one being dark chocolate-brown, and. another a very 

 light brown, and mottled almost exactly like a young 

 hawk. There are two young birds in each nest ; both 

 may be of the dark or both of the light variety, or 

 there may be one of each ; while the parent birds are 

 also of either colour, dark or white bellied indis- 

 criminately. The strong presumption is, that the 

 lighter-coloured young birds develop into the white- 

 bellied adults, and not, as some suppose, that the 

 variety is referable to age. One great object with us 

 was to solve this problem ; but from our pets of this 

 species never surviving the first winter, and so never 

 reaching the moulting stage, we failed to throw any 

 light on so singular an anomaly. But this is orni- 

 thology, and I am afraid rather a digression. 



I pass over many more of our feathered pets, and 

 conclude with a notice of Toby, whose memory deserves 

 something more than a passing reference. Toby was a 

 magnificent Cormorant, taken when very young from 

 his nest on the side of a hellyer — Shetlandic for a cave 

 or cavern into which the sea flows. He was easily 

 tamed; and became one of the most familiar, intelli- 

 gent, affectionate, and interesting of our pets. We 

 very soon came to learn the exceeding appropriateness 

 of the saying, " voracious as a cormorant." What a 

 splendid appetite, what a capacious maw our Toby 



