bronze-coloured plumage. In the breeding season his head 
has a hoary appearance, due to the presence of numerous 
filamentous feathers, known as “ filoplumes”; while the 
throat is white, and there is a large white patch on the thigh. 
He has a habit, after a full meal, of sitting on some con- 
venient perch with wings spread wide open and open- 
mouthed, apparently as an aid to digestion. But he is by 
no means so wedded to the sea as the shag. Rivers and 
inland waters will serve him as well as the sea. 
The gannet, though very nearly related to the cormorant, 
is a bird of very different habits and appearance. When 
adult it is snow-white in plumage, with blue beak and feet, 
and can be mistaken for no other bird. Its peculiar mode of 
fishing was described in Chapter II. 
Finally, there are two most interesting features of these 
birds which are worth remembering. To wit, the toes are 
all enclosed within one web, and they have no nostrils, and 
but the merest apology for a tongue. 
And now we come to the petrels. These are for the most 
part nocturnal birds, spending the day in burrows. They 
would, therefore, find no place in these pages but for the fact 
that one may occasionally be seen at sea when one is fishing 
off the shore in a boat. The commonest is that known as the 
Manx shearwater. Rather larger than a pigeon, it may 
be distinguished by its flight, which is rapid; the wings 
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