4 MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. 13. 



indicate nests merging smoothly in colour and outline into the 

 surrounding surface. In the mornings the cormorants are 

 seen flying away from the rock in singles and in small flocks of a 

 dozen or more. In the late afternoon the greatest number re- 

 turn, but throughout the day birds can be seen both going and 

 coming. About sunset most of the resident birds are in place on 

 the rock. The gulls cover the less elevated positions and the 

 few isolated crags, while the masses of dark bodied cormorants 

 make nearly solid black splashes on the summits of the gently 

 rolling elevations. At such times it was estimated that there 

 were 1,000 cormorants on the rock, but as stragglers continue to 

 come in until dark it is probable that the total population of 

 cormorants on Perc rock is in the neighbourhood of 1,200 or 

 1,300 individuals. Local observers and residents place the 

 number much higher, but I do not think their estimates can be 

 substantiated. 



Differing in habit from many sea birds, the juvenile and 

 non-breeding cormorants seem to live during the nesting season 

 in the same communities with the adult birds. Most water 

 birds separate through the breeding season, the young and the 

 adult birds occupying different localities through the summer, and 

 not mixing together until after nesting duties are accomplished. 

 On the Gaspe coast, however, old and young cormorants 

 are seen constantly together, the latter evidently roosting at 

 night in the immediate vicinity of their elders and accompanying 

 them in mixed flocks to and from the feeding grounds. 



About Gaspe the nesting and other conditions are quite 

 different from those at Perce. Instead of occupying the top of 

 one inaccessible crag they nest in different places on the shores 

 of the bay, none very difficult of access. 



On the north shore of the bay, about 3 miles out from Gaspe 

 Basin, near a spot laid down on the pilot charts as "Three-runs," 

 is a colony of about thirty nests built in trees growing from 

 the top and upper face of the cliff and overlooking the sea at a 

 height of about 150 feet. These trees are mostly small birches, 

 with a butt diameter of from 4 to 6 inches, growing from the 

 crest and upper face of the bluff and overhanging the narrow shore 

 and the sea below. This site has probably not been long occupied 



