THE DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. 495 



curious to see them crawl flat on the rock, assisting themselves with their 

 bill, feet and wings, employing the first in the manner of Parrots, and the 

 wings like the oars of a boat or the flappers of turtles. When approached, 

 they curved and twisted their necks in the most curious manner, reminding 

 one of the writhings of a snake, and when seized they muted so profusely as 

 to excite disgust. A dozen or more of different sizes, however, were thrust 

 into a bag, and carried on board the vessel. The materials and dimensions 

 of the nests were noted on the spot, and a hatful of eggs was brought to me. 



The Double-crested Cormorant forms its nest of sea-weeds, some sticks, 

 moss, and clods of earth, with grass adhering to them, which it piles up into 

 a solid mass, often as high as three feet from the rock, with a diameter of 

 fifteen or eighteen inches at the top, and of two and a half feet at the base. 

 The whole has an appearance of solidary seldom seen in the nests of water- 

 birds. The nests are placed as near each other as the nature of the ground 

 will permit, and a great number which appeared to have stood out against 

 the winter storms, had been enlarged and repaired that season. Many, 

 however, lay scattered over the rocks, having been demolished by heavy 

 gales or the breaking of the surf during tempests. The whole surface of the 

 rock resembled a mass of putridity: feathers, broken and rotten eggs, and 

 dead young, lay scattered over it; and I leave you to guess how such a place 

 must smell in a calm warm day. The eggs are three or four, average two 

 and a half inches in length by one inch and four and a half eighths in 

 breadth, and have an elongated form. They are covered with a calcareous 

 coating, which is more or less soiled with filth, but when carefully scraped, 

 shews a fine light greenish-blue tint. 



The young when just hatched, are of a bluish-black colour, tinged with 

 purple, and look extremely odd. They remain blind for several days, and 

 for about a fortnight are fed by the parents with the greatest care, the food 

 being regurgitated into their open throats. They appear to grow rapidly, 

 for in the course of eight or ten clays we found some the size of a pullet, 

 which, when marked, were scarcely half that size. They are covered with 

 long down of a brownish-black colour, and do not leave the nest, unless they 

 are intruded on, until they are able to fly, when their parents, who long 

 before had ceased to feed them by dropping the fish into their bill, and had 

 merely placed it on the ground near them, leave them to shift for themselves. 

 By the middle of August all these birds remove southward, along Newfound- 

 land, by Cape Breton Island, and the shores of Nova Scotia, scarcely any 

 remaining on the coast of the first during winter, when indeed not many are 

 seen farther east than the Bay of Halifax. 



The fishermen and eggers never gather their eggs, they being unfit for 

 being eaten by any other animals than Gulls or Jagers; but they commit 



Vol. VI. 5S 



