ditch, awaiting the moment to strike at some unwary fish, 

 frog, or water-vole. The moment he discovers that he is 

 being watched he will be on the move. He rises heavily, 

 almost awkwardly, with flapping wings and outstretched 

 neck : his legs danghng down. But no sooner is he well on 

 the way than he hauls in his neck tiU' the head is drawn close 

 to the body, and straightens out his legs tiU they extend 

 behind him like a pair of streamers. Henceforth his flight 

 is easy and graceful enough. This is the bird which was so 

 much prized in the old days of " hawking." The invention 

 of the gun ended this most fascinating form of sport. 



Let us turn now, for a httle while, from moor and wood 

 and fen, to the seashore, and, for choice, to a rock-bound 

 coast with towering cliffs. Here you wUl find a number of 

 species which wiU never be found inland. They love the 

 sea, whether it be shimmering in the sun of a blazing June 

 day, smooth as a mUl-pond, or in a fury of thundering billows, 

 lashed by a roaring gale in bleak December. The bottle- 

 green shag is one of these. You cannot mistake him. 

 Perched on a rock he sits upright, and, in the spring, wears a 

 crest upon his head. On the water he floats with the body 

 weU down, and every few moments disappears with a spring 

 into the depths, for his never-ending meal of fish and crabs. 

 His flight, just above the water, is strong and rapid. His 

 cousin, the cormorant, is a conspicuously larger bird, with a 



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