The Brandt Cormorant 



Taken in Santa 



PEACE 



Photo by the Author 



calcareous veil drawn over the whole, a sort of limy crust which now 

 and then breaks away in patches, uncovering areas of purest heron's egg 

 green. This limy incrustation is sometimes so coarse and irregular that 

 the whole egg appears like some quaint arabesque in green and white. 

 The eggs are soon soiled and nest-stained, however, and in many cases 

 they become a dull brownish from the excretions of innumerable shag- 

 flies which haunt the scene. 



The newly hatched young are mother naked, and of a repulsive 

 greasy black appearance. At the age of a week or such a matter they are 

 covered with a thick black down, well sprinkled upon the sides with white. 

 The gular area is of a livid blue-black color from the outset, and young 

 Brandts may thus be clearly distinguished from young Farallons, with 

 which they occasionally mingle when frightened. A young cormorant is 

 no mean climber. Armed with sharp claws, and hesitating not a moment 

 to use wings in lieu of hands, an unsettled squab can scramble back up a 

 very steep bit of rock. The social instinct is very strong in times of dan- 

 ger, and a hundred bantlings will huddle together in a single seething 

 mass of apprehension. 



The details of infant nursing are fortunately obscured from the eyes 



1953 



