134 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. viii. 



three men to lift it into position. I did not care to 

 risk disturbing the Cormorants any longer and so left 

 them for several days. 



The only good Ught on the nest was between 11 a.m. 

 and 1.45 p.m., but being several feet beneath it, my 

 camera had to point upwards towards the underside of 

 the surrounding foHage, which never reflected any 

 light. Moreover, the ladder swayed with every gust of 

 wind, and the Cormorants were never still, so that no 

 exposure above one -twenty-fifth of a second was prac- 

 ticable. I used my Birdland camera throughout at double 

 extension. It was slung round my neck and balanced 

 against a pole tied at right angles to the ladder. 



Cormorants somehow look ridiculously out of place 

 in trees ; their curiously-shaped feet with the four toes 

 webbed do not seem adapted for perching. I tried 

 very hard to get a good photograph of their pecuhar 

 method of hanging on to a branch, but the colour of 

 their feet harmonised with the wood so well that they 

 failed to show. I sometimes laughed aloud at the 

 terrified expression of the adventurous nestUngs when 

 they first began to perch on some slender branches 

 near the nest. If a sudden puff of wind came, the birds 

 wrapped their feet tightly round a twig, crouched down 

 and craned their necks towards the haven of the nursery, 

 and sometimes made desperate efforts to regain it, 

 opening their beaks meanwhile and panting with fear. 

 It occurred to me that possibly I might present the 

 same frightened aspect to the Cormorants, when sudden 

 gusts compelled me to chng to my ladder with both 

 hands, as both it and the tree bent before the wind. The 

 first batch of photographs obtained between July 7th and 

 July 20th showed only two birds clearly. Occasionall}'^ 

 the head of number three appeared, but the fourth was 

 not of an age to sit up and take notice, except at feeding- 

 time ; then all four showed up plainly as soon as the 

 old bird approached. That fortnight was a particularly 

 hot one, and the two elder birds sat with open beaks 



