MORGAN — Some Observations on Cormorants. 203 



lined with excrement, in some a few small shells were seen. 

 The rookery covered an area of about two acres, all the trees 

 in which were covered with excrement, leafless, and apparent- 

 ly dying. I had noticed on a former visit that the trees in 

 which last year's nests were placed were quite dead. The 

 smell, though not exactly aromatic, was by no means un- 

 bearable, perhaps because the ground was washed by each 

 incoming tide. As we approached the trees the young birds 

 disgorged the fish in their stomachs, and those old enough to 

 do so flopped to the mud and waddled off towards the water. 

 It was not very difficult to catch one of two for examination, 

 but care had to be taken to avoid their sharply hooked bills, 

 for they bite savagely whtn caught. By far the greater 

 number of the birds were nearly full grown, though here and 

 there younger birds were found, and a few nests still con- 

 tained eggs in clutches of two or three. 



Beneath the trees the mud was thickly strewn with dis- 

 gorged fish in varying stages of digestion. The most nume- 

 rous species was the Green Weedie (Odax waterhousi), next 

 came the Rock Flathead (Platycephalus sp.). This fish, unlike 

 the common Flathead (P. fuscus), lives on rocks and weedy 

 bottoms; it is, I suppose, this species which C'apt. S. A. White 

 found in the stomachs of shags he dissected at Port Gawler 

 (S.A. Ornithologist, Vol. ii., pp. 178 and 179). It is probably 

 an edible fish, but is rarely if ever seen in the market. The 

 next commonest was the Cat Fish (Cnidoglanus megastomus), 

 many of which were seen; there were also a few Trumpeter 

 (Atypichthys strigatus), and one each of the Garfish (Hemir- 

 kamphus intermedins), and the Brown Weedie (Odax balteatus). 

 Some of the fish measured as much as a foot in length, and 

 ione about f lb. weight was seen. The young 'birds do not 

 seem at all particular which nest they sit on; an adult sitting 

 on two chicks and an egg was constantly pecking off young 

 birds which were trying to get on to her nest, which they 

 immediately occupied when she was driven off. The owner- 

 ship of nests is a constant source of quarrelling amongst the 

 young birds themselves, and when pecking and squabbling 

 they are rather more noisy than usual. The young birds even 

 when only a quarter .grown are excellent climbers, using the 

 hooked point of the bill, the wings and claws to assist them- 

 selves back into their nests, and when climbing the trees some- 

 times hoist themselves up by hooking the neck into a. forked 

 branch. Occasionally they get stuck and perish; we released 

 one bird which was caught by a foot in a fork, and saw seve- 



