A VISIT TO THE BIRD ROCK, TOWYN, N. WALES. 881 



pony and trap, and at last we were nearing the Bird Eock. To 

 anyone without nerves the drive would have been delightful, but 

 with two wheels and a most dangerous road, after many twistings, 

 I was thankful when we reached a large valley opening to the 

 sea, at the mouth of which is Towyn, and turning to the left 

 we pulled up close under a large rock, " Craig-y-Deryn " (the Bird 

 Rock.) This rock stands boldly out, a most conspicuous object 

 on the left-hand side of the valley looking down towards Towyn, 

 and is precipitous on the two sides jutting out into the valley ; 

 but its top may be reached by walking over the hill from the 

 valley behind it. These two sides, like a miniature Gibraltar, 

 are nearly perpendicular, and it is on the ledges of the side 

 facing towards Cader Idris that the Cormorant builds and rears 

 its young in safety. The guide-books do not give the height of 

 the rock, but I should say it would be about 400 feet, more or 

 less. I know the Cormorants looked very small from where we 

 stood. A road skirts the bottom, and the nests, with the young, 

 for the most about three-parts grown, were easily distinguishable 

 from the quantity of white droppings that fall beneath the nests 

 and stain the surface of the rock. 



We watched the old birds, particularly the hens, feeding 

 their young, and the flight of the parent-birds as they circled and 

 soared round the face of the rock, and particularly the powerful 

 flight of the large dark cock birds, was grand in the extreme. 

 The young, during the time they were being fed, made a con- 

 tinual querulous crying. Every now and then a Sparrowhawk 

 would sweep round the face of the rock ; instantly the old cock 

 Cormorants would trumpet out their hoarse note of alarm and 

 defiance, to be answered, in their turn, by the cries of the hens 

 and young, making a babel of noise that must be heard to be 

 understood. These sounds would ultimately die away, and 

 perfect silence would reign until the appearance of another hawk 

 would start afresh the trumpeting, and set the echoes replying. 

 It was impossible for me to count the nests from where I was 

 on the road, but at a rough guess I should say there were about 

 thirty there then, but whether any young had flown I am unable 

 to say. 



The fishermen say that there are Cormorants on the rock 

 blind from age, and that they never leave the rock, but are fed 

 by the younger birds ; but I am assured by a naturalist living at 



