518 



THE COMMON CORMORANT. 



and flourishes 

 in immense 

 numbers, with 

 less molesta- 

 tion by man, 

 than do those 

 numerous 

 kinds of water- 

 fowl whose 

 flesh or eggs 

 are a desidera- 

 tum. The huge 

 rocks, white- 

 washed and 

 plastered with 

 excrements; 

 the dark piles 

 o f sea - weed, 

 with their com- 

 plements of 

 eggs ; the 

 noisy growing 

 broods of 

 young of vari- 

 ous sizes (these 

 young always 

 to be associated 

 with decaying 

 food and other 

 filth); the im- 

 mense dark 

 figures of 

 their parents, 

 swarming in 



THE COMMON COKMOKANT. 



