Abstract
ON reading the letter of W. Steadman Aldis in NATURE (vol. xxvii. p. 338) yesterday, I was reminded by a person present that some years ago, when in Orkney, I pointed out an appearance that most people unaccustomed to witness it might have taken for a great sea-monster. This was no hing more or less than some hundreds of cormorants or “scarps” flying in a continuous line close to the water, the deception being increased by the resemblance of a head caused by several “scarps” in a cluster heading the column, and by the “lumpy” seas of a swift tideway frequently intervening and hiding for an instant part of the black lines, causing the observer to—not unnaturally—imagine that the portions so hidden had gone under water. The speed of the cormorant on the wing may be fairly estimated at thirty miles an hour or more.
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RAE, J. The Sea-Serpent. Nature 27, 366 (1883). https://doi.org/10.1038/027366d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/027366d0
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