256 BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



nuptial plumage are not often seen in Tor Bay, 

 but the local museum contains an example in 

 that dress. 



Little need be said of the Cormorants and 

 Shags that haunt the sea in this neighbourhood 

 beyond what we have already written. Both 

 species frequent the sea here all the year round, 

 their abundance or scarcity depending to a great 

 extent upon the movements of the fish on which 

 they feqd. But there is another and more 

 interesting member of the Pelican family that 

 is a pretty frequent visitor to Tor Bay, and that is 

 the Gannet. We have records of this species in here 

 from October to May. The birds are never very 

 numerous, the most we have seen together being 

 a dozen or so. They are, however, more abundant 

 in the open Channel, and appear only to visit the 

 bays in numbers when following the shoals of 

 herrings and sprats that come shorewards in 

 winter. Many a pleasant hour have we passed 

 in watching the movements of these birds in our 

 spacious bay. Gannets are hungry birds, and 

 always seem bent on fishing. It is a grand and 

 imposing sight to watch them soaring far aloft 

 in wide circles, sweeping round and round on 



