WAPITAGUN 



counted six hundred nests and there may 

 have been more — great basket affairs nearly 

 two feet across in outside measurements and 

 built up from three or four inches to a foot in 

 height. Several were placed astraddle of the 

 lower frame of the triangular beacon. They 

 were made of weed-stalks intermingled with 

 dry grass and seaweed and branches of cur- 

 lew-berry vine, spruce, and fir. Many of the 

 nests, although much soiled with the chalky, 

 slimy droppings of the bird, had some decora- 

 tion in the form of a feather or two or a fresh 

 green branch. I once found a long, curled wood- 

 shaving on the edge of anest. 



An interesting tale of decoration of the nests 

 by cormorants was brought to our attention. I 

 am inclined to believe this story from my knowl- 

 edge of the habits of this bird, and as it was 

 not solicited or even suggested on our part. It 

 seems that a trading-schooner was sunk two 

 years ago off Washsheecootai Point, and this 

 summer, when some fishermen visited a cormo- 

 rant island near by, they found that the birds had 

 decorated their nests with pocket-knives, pipes, 

 hairpins, and ladies' combs — objects which 

 they had obtained by diving to the wreck. 

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