. Wild nature's ways . wny chicks—whichare after a certain age the most nervous creaturesknown to me—is a smaller bird than its congener,the cormorant, and rather partial to dark holesand corners in which to nestle. I have found itbreeding in caves so dark that you could notdistinguish it sitting on its eggs until your eyesgrew accustomed to the poverty of the light. Naturalists of an older school disputed whetherthis bird used its wings to aid propulsion underwater or not. My experiences in the Shetlands,St. Kilda, and the Outer Hebrides go to provethat it certainly does make use of its wings
. Wild nature's ways . wny chicks—whichare after a certain age the most nervous creaturesknown to me—is a smaller bird than its congener,the cormorant, and rather partial to dark holesand corners in which to nestle. I have found itbreeding in caves so dark that you could notdistinguish it sitting on its eggs until your eyesgrew accustomed to the poverty of the light. Naturalists of an older school disputed whetherthis bird used its wings to aid propulsion underwater or not. My experiences in the Shetlands,St. Kilda, and the Outer Hebrides go to provethat it certainly does make use of its wings wheneither badly scared or otherwise placed under thenecessity of travelling at great speed in deepwater. Some idea may be gathered of the depthto which this bird can dive after its prey whenit is stated that it has been caught in a crab potlying forty yards below the surface of the ocean. On the west side of Scotland the green cor-morant or scart, as it is there almost universally FRAGMENTS FROM THE SEASHORE. 243. SHAG, OR GREEN CORMORANTGUARDING YOUNG called^ is highly esteemed as an article of food,and I have been told on good authority that itis difficult to distinguish scart soup from thatmade from the more orthodox hare. The oyster-catcher is one of the liveliest andmost characteristic birds of the seashore. Its 244 WILD NATURES WAYS. conspicuous black and white plumage, orange-coloured bill, and purple legs at once attractthe attention of the observer, even if it does notadvertise its whereabouts by loud and oft-repeatedvocal effort. Whilst campaigning in the OuterHebrides last summer, I determined to try tophotograph this shy and wary fowl at home inits native wilds, and succeeded beyond my mostsanguine expectations, although circumstancescompelled mc to set about my task with thecamera only nine feet away from the ^ sitter. The extremely rocky nature of the shore, uponwhich I found several scattered pairs of birdsbreeding, made it quite plain that it would beimpos
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