experience of certain maritime colonies of this Cor- 

 morant the nests were composed of sea-weed, with 

 occasionally some dry sticks and drift-wood, in some 

 instances a lining of rushes or coarse grass. The eggs 

 are pointed at both ends ; the true shell is of a delicate 

 pale green-blue, but is generally more or less thickly 

 coated or splashed with a white chalky material that is 

 easily scraped off with a knife. A newly hatched 

 Cormorant is a cui'ious, but by no means a lovely object, 

 being featherless, blind, and of a dark lead colour. It 

 is said that the young birds of this species are carried 

 down to the water by their parents long before they 

 can fly ; in confirmation of this statement I can only 

 say that I have frequently chased young Cormorants 

 in boats and been completely beaten by their activity 

 upon and under the water, although they were, to all 

 appearance, incapable of flight. The cliff-breeding 

 Cormorants often travel daily to long distances for 

 fishing purposes : I have frequently met with them just 

 below Totnes on the Dart dming their breeding-season ; 

 this must be at least 8 or 10 miles from the nearest 

 nesting-place. The voracity of this bird is in my 

 experience unrivalled except by its near ally the Pelican, 

 who, of course, has more stowage capacity. In captivity 

 a young Cormorant seems perfectly at home at once, 

 and an old one will become tame in a very few days. 

 My friend Captain F. H. Salvin has trained many of 

 these birds to catch fish, or, I should rather say, has 

 allowed many to do so on his account, for no training 

 is really required, the bird when not replete being 

 too glad to follow his natural instinct in the capture of 



