. The story of hedgerow and pond . an appear-ance of snow. They make, whereverthey can find room, a bulky nest some-thing like a cormorants, equally roughand equally smelly, but only lay one young bird, when it makes itsappearance, soon becomes tremendously The Sea^birds^ Nursery fat, and covered with a thick coat ofyellowish-white down. When the firstfeathers appear the birds are brown,spotted with white, and do not get thesnow-white plumage of their parents forsome years. They are largely used asfood by the people who live in the rockyislands in the North Sea, and whenpickled or salt
. The story of hedgerow and pond . an appear-ance of snow. They make, whereverthey can find room, a bulky nest some-thing like a cormorants, equally roughand equally smelly, but only lay one young bird, when it makes itsappearance, soon becomes tremendously The Sea^birds^ Nursery fat, and covered with a thick coat ofyellowish-white down. When the firstfeathers appear the birds are brown,spotted with white, and do not get thesnow-white plumage of their parents forsome years. They are largely used asfood by the people who live in the rockyislands in the North Sea, and whenpickled or salted or smoked are storedaway for the winter, when no fishingcan be carried on, while the feathersare also used to keep them warm duringthe loner, cold nights. The same use is made of the multitudeof puffins which live together in suchnumbers, and these birds are caught in avery curious fashion. You do not oftenhear of people going fishing for the natives of St. Kilda, who dependupon the sea-fowl for their living, catch285. The Sea-birds* Nursery them with a loop at the end of a fishing-rod, while the birds are sitting about ingroups on the rock?: ?.s they are so fondof doing. The noose is then droppedquietly over the head of first one birdand then another, and their bodies soonfill a large bag carried by the bird fisher-man. The deed is done so quietly andcleverly that the birds are not alarmedas they would be at the report of a curious part of it is that they allowthe man to approach closely enough. ButI know from my own experience that it isquite possible to creep up to within a fewyards of them without causing any are, I should say, the mostcomical-looking of all our native birds,and have the most curious beaks, verylarge, very thin, and very brilliantlycoloured ; but with these funny beaks286 The Sea^birds^ Nursery the birds catch enormous numbers ofsmall fish and bring them home five orsix at a time, with their tails hangingout. They look as if
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectwat
