66 
In flight the Cormorant is a heavy bird, and though once on the 
wing it moves with considerable rapidity, it yet gives the observer 
the appearance of being heavy, and its flight only sustained by 
much exertion. The bird is a most rapacious feeder. Its food con- 
sists entirely of fish, which it captures by diving, and in its pursuit 
of its prey below the surface it is itself fish-like in the rapidity of its 
movement and the length of the time it remains submerged. After 
the period of feeding and its consequent diving a very favourite 
attitude of the Cormorant is to sit upon a rock, or even on a buoy, 
just above the reach of the waves, with its wings extended and 
apparently in a state of repletion. 
The Cormorant breeds in colonies, most frequently on rocky 
ledges on the sea coast, but often selects what appears so unusual a 
site as the tops of high trees, where it breeds in conditions similar 
to those of the Heron. The eggs are usually three in number, and 
are of a pale blue ground colour, though this is covered with a 
chalky white coating which quickly becomes soiled and discoloured. 
There is something weird in the appearance of the Cormorant, with 
its staring light green eye, strong bill with its sharp hook at the 
end, its unfeathered face, and its snake-like neck, and its general 
repulsiveness of appearance, no doubt, was the reason of Milton 
selecting its description as similar to that of Satan. A visit to the 
breeding-place is interesting, but unsavoury. A peculiar habit in 
its feeding of its young is that the young bird thrusts its head down 
the throat of th« parent, which regurgitates the half-digested fish it 
has captured. 
Crow, Carrion. — This bird is a resident, though in winter its 
numbers are enormously increased by an autumn invasion from the 
Continent and Scandinavia. Of the Carrion-Crow very little good 
can be said, while it is unquestionably the source of much trouble 
and loss to game preservers. In sire it is slightly larger than the 
Rook, which it also resembles closely in appearance, the chief dis- 
tinctions between the two being that, while the Rook is always 
gregarious, the Carrion-Crow is a solitary bird, and the latter has 
at all ages the face feathered, in contrast to the Rook, which in its 
second year loses the facial feathers, presenting that rough and 
uncouth appearance which is so familiar to all. 
The Carrion-Crow has deservedly earned persecution, with the 
result that it is now a shy bird and to be found in any number only 
in the more retired and inaccessible parts of our islands, where it 
resorts to breed. The nest is placed either in crevices amongst 
rocks, or perhaps more frequently in the branches of a tree 
growing from a cliff face, though now and again an odd pair may he 
found nesting in an unexpected situation, such as the corner of a 
coppice, quite near to human habitation, though in such cases it is 
unlikely there is a gamekeeper near. The eggs are four or five in 
number, of a bluish green ground colour, thickly blotched, spotted 
and streaked with olive brown. The Carrion-Crow is the nearest 
relative of the Hooded Crow, with which it not infrequently inter- 
breeds, the young in such cases partaking of the characteristics of 
one of the parents — that is, appearing either all black, as the 
Carrion-Crow, or with the plumage of the true Hooded Crow. 
In colour the Carrion-Crow is black, with a metallic lustre of dark 
steel blue, which is particularly apparent in the spring months ; its 
length is about 19 inches. 
Cuckoo. — This well-known bird is perhaps from one point of 
view the best known of our summer migrants, its note being eagerly 
listened for each year by many as the harbinger of that pleasant 
