394 FRAGMENTS. 



a screen of rock immediately overhanging a perpendicular 

 cliff. It was quite snug from the weather. Although we 

 could not see into the nest, there were most likely eggs, 

 as the raven lays so early. All winter, the great cor- 

 morant, roosts at night upon the Bass. They were now 

 in their superb breeding plumage, and, from the white 

 patch of feathers on each thigh, they have obtained the 

 flash name of " the letter-o'-mark/' The boatmen fancied 

 the birds under three years, who had not this 'mark, a 

 distinct species. We saw numbers flying backwards and 

 forwards, or sitting patient upon a rock, imparting to it 

 their own silent mournful character. Their credentials 

 were quite apparent to the naked eye. The wind was in 

 the wrong direction for landing, or I could easily have pro- 

 cured a " letter-o'-mark" flying to its perch in the evening, 

 as they had not yet abandoned their winter dormitory. 



THE common buzzard is a capital mole-catcher ; and at 

 the beginning of winter, when the mole-hills appear, he 

 generally takes possession of any convenient fallow-ground. 

 Shifting from tree to tree, he watches the casting up of the 

 earths, ready to leap down upon the mole as soon as his 

 instinct assures him that it is close to the surface. Buz- 

 zards always watch prey in this manner, and jump down 

 upon it from the perch. They destroy numbers of reptiles 

 and small vermin, on which account they deserve the good- 

 will of the farmer. 



