On the Seashore | Page 6

looking for waste food. They are not very
"choice" in their meals; dead fish or live fish, young crabs, worms,
shell-fish or grubs they eat readily, as well as any offal thrown from
passing ships, or the refuse of the fish-market.
One of these scavenging birds was seen to be carrying a long object,
like an eel, in its mouth. The bird was shot; and it was then discovered

that the "eel" was really a string of candles! The greedy Gull had
half-swallowed one, leaving the rest to hang down from its bill. The
Common Gull nests in "colonies," like the Black-headed Gull. Its nest
is made of seaweed, heather, and dried grass, in which it lays its three
greenish-brown eggs.
Another bird to be seen along all parts of our coast, summer and winter
alike, is the Cormorant, usually with a small party of his friends. They
fly swiftly, one behind the other, and a long line of them reminds one
of the pictures of "sea-serpents," especially as they fly quite near the
surface of the sea, each one with its long neck outstretched. The Gull
flies beautifully, as if he knew his power, and loved to show how he
can skim and dive through the air. The Cormorant is not a flier, but a
swimmer and diver; he cannot "show off" in the air, and only uses his
narrow wings to take him, as quickly as may be, from one fishing-place
to another.
Most of the Cormorant's time is spent in fishing, for he lives entirely on
fish, and catches immense numbers of them. He spends many hours,
too, in drying his wings. I once saw a number of these birds with their
wings "hung out to dry." Each one was perched on a stump of wood,
across the muddy mouth of a river, and each sooty-looking bird had his
wings wide open in the sun. This habit seems to show that the
Cormorant uses his wings, as well as his feet, in his frequent journeys
under water.
The powerful webbed feet of the Cormorant, set far back on the body,
the darting head, long neck, and long curved beak, tell you plainly how
he earns his meals. He is a clever fish-hunter, and the fishermen,
knowing the appetite of this keen rival of theirs, detest him and destroy
him. In some countries there is a price on his head--that is, so much
money is given for every Cormorant killed.
Sometimes the Cormorant swims slowly along with his head under
water, on the watch for small fish. Seeing one below him, he dives like
a flash, and can remain under water for some time; he wastes very little
time, however, in swallowing his victim head first.

The great skill of this bird has been made use of, and tame Cormorants
are used in China to obtain fish for their masters. They have been used
in England, too, for the same purpose. A strap is placed round the bird's
neck to prevent him from swallowing the catch. He is then set to work.
After catching five or six fish he is recalled by his master, and made to
disgorge his prey, which, of course, he has swallowed as far as the strap
will permit.
The Cormorant is famous for his large appetite; he chases even big fish,
of a size to choke him, you would think. Like his relative the Pelican,
he owns a very elastic throat. I have seen a Pelican put a half-grown
duck in its pouch, without much trouble. The Cormorant could not
perform this feat, but his throat will stretch so as to allow the passage
of large fish. Small fish he usually tosses up in the air, catches them
neatly head first, and swallows them whole.
Another bird of our coast is the Oyster-catcher, sometimes called the
"Sea-pie" or Mussel-picker. These names suit it well, for it does not
live on oysters, but on mussels, limpets and whelks. Of course, these
are easily "caught" at low tide; they are not easily eaten, so the Sea-pie
has to earn his dinner by hard work. In fact, his beak is often notched
by the sharp, hard edges of the shells of these molluscs; and at times, he
haunts the low banks of mud and ooze near the sea, and there picks up
worms and other soft-bodied animals.
As his name Sea-pie shows, the Oyster-catcher is a black-and-white
bird, his under parts being white and upper parts black. His legs and
long, straight bill are red. Most birds of the waterside seem to find that
black-and-white feathers make a good disguise. Though they would
show up plainly on a green field, they are well hidden among the stones
along the edge of the water.
The Sea-pie makes no nest,