252 BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



hailing from the polar seas and with the same stretch 

 of wings as our Great Black-Back. In really severe, 

 weather they may appear in some numbers, but there 

 are few adults amongst them, the majority being young 

 birds in spotted plumage. 



But the braw north-easter does not always whistle 

 even on this exposed coast. At the very end of the 

 month comes a day of calm sea and cloudless sky. 

 Out in the bay the glass shows us diver after diver 

 and party after party of ducks resting at ease on the 

 slow-heaving oily swell. The ducks in such weather 

 are hopelessly unapproachable ; not so the divers, 

 which often swim close inshore, turning to dive through 

 an advancing wave just before it breaks. Black- 

 headed Gulls, playing about the tide-edge, descend with 

 sudden swoop, just touching the water with their feet. 

 A Cormorant flaps along the surface splashing like a 

 coot, while others sit in solemn conclave on a rocky 

 stack. Curlew, wild and wary as always, feed upon 

 the outer skerries until the rising tide moves them, and a 

 heron, which has remained until knee-deep, at last has 

 to flap away. Half-a-dozen Oyster -catchers stand 

 upon a flat reef in the wash of the tide ; their orange 

 bills seem to flame against the dark background of 

 weed and rock. The glass shows that at times they 

 rest on one leg with the bill tucked into the feathers 

 of the back, in attitudes and movements extremely 

 stork-like. With them, moving briskly about amongst 



