. Birds through the year . ormo-rants plumage is partly green, but in the shag it is a gooddeal greener. The two cormorants and the gannet are birds singularlyfull of a wild individuality, and add greatly to the attractionof any tract of sea-cliff where they occur. Their appearanceand manner of fishing are very different. Gannets appearsnowy-white at a distance, but for the black tips to theirwings; and old cormorants look coal-black, though there isa greenish gloss in their plumage which is more pronouncedin the case of the shag. Cormorants fly low and heavilyclose above the water, and spend
. Birds through the year . ormo-rants plumage is partly green, but in the shag it is a gooddeal greener. The two cormorants and the gannet are birds singularlyfull of a wild individuality, and add greatly to the attractionof any tract of sea-cliff where they occur. Their appearanceand manner of fishing are very different. Gannets appearsnowy-white at a distance, but for the black tips to theirwings; and old cormorants look coal-black, though there isa greenish gloss in their plumage which is more pronouncedin the case of the shag. Cormorants fly low and heavilyclose above the water, and spend much time in swimming 136 SPRING with bodies half immersed, or in long dives in chase oftheir prey. There is something sinister and uncanny abouttheir whole appearance ; with their long snaky necks andlean bodies, they seem very close to the primaeval flyinglizards out of which our modern birds developed. Miltonssimile of Satan sitting like a cormorant on the Tree ofLife, devising death to them who lived,is as illuminative. CORMORANT of the bird as of the fiend. Cormorants love to spend longhours sitting upright on a reef with their wings spread outto dry in the sun. Their wings in this attitude look likea cloth waved as a signal; and a crew of fishermen havebefore now launched a boat at sunrise, and crossed a bayto rescue a supposed castaway, only to find themselvesconfronted with the familiar and detested bird. There isnot even the slightest possibility that the cormorant wouldenjoy the joke; no creature alive is obviously so incapable SEA-CLIFFS IN NESTING TIME 137 of a wholesome smile. The voracity of the cormorantmakes it hated by fishermen ; and in estuaries where thesupply offish is restricted, it may become a serious nuisance,and does not deserve unqualified protection. Voraciousbirds need to be kept within reasonable limits, though theirvoracity is not an excuse for their extermination. Gannetsare larger and shyer birds than cormorants, and seldomhaunt waters where the
Size: 1738px × 1438px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirdspi, bookyear1922
