LXXIV. 

 CARBO CORMORANUS. (meyer.) 



Cormorant. 



The Cormorant breeds upon ledges of precipices, choosing, 

 however, in preference, those rocks which stand isolated 

 and surrounded by the sea, upon the tops of which it makes 

 its nest. On the Feme islands, where about forty or fifty 

 pairs breed, they occupy a low flat island, slightly elevated 

 above the water, confining themselves to one particular and 

 very limited part of it. To any one who takes a delight in 

 exploring the retreat of our sea-fowl, and visiting them on 

 their own M^ild native rocks, a breeding place of the Cormo- 

 rant, will afford one of the most interesting, and, at the same 

 time, ludicrous sights ; and, were Cruikshank an ornitholo- 

 gist, would furnish him with some good sketches. Should 

 you approach the Cormorant islands to leeward, you will 

 long, ere you reach it, have notice of its neighbourhood, by 

 the strong nauseous smell tainting the passing breeze. At 

 first sight, the island, which is whitened with their dung, re- 

 sembles the limed top of a wall, in which are stuck pieces of 

 broken glass ; when, on a nearer approach, the lank upright 

 figures of the birds become visible, they look like an assem- 

 blage of so many long-necked French wine bottles. Before 

 you arrive within gun-shot of their nests, after raising their 

 long necks to their utmost perpendicular stretch, and looking 

 wildly around them, they suddenly assume a horizontal posi- 

 tion, and leaving their nests, pass around you once or twice, 

 and then retire to some neighbouring rock, where they remain 

 for a time quietly seated, and then, as though impatient of 

 your delay, again rise and wheel round you as before. A 

 flock of Cormorants, thus on wing, is a most curious sight. — 



