PELICANS. 193 



the bank of a pond or canal. They are then made to go into the water, the trainer 

 whistling a peculiar call and using a bamboo to force them. Small fish are thrown to 

 them, upon which they pounce greedily, as they have been kept on short allowance 

 of food. They are now called back by a different whistle-call, and forced to obey by 

 means of the string ; as they reach the shore more fish is given them. This teaching 

 having been gone through daily for a month, another four or five weeks are spent in 

 training the birds from a boat; at the end of this period the string is generally dis- 

 pensed with. When old and well-trained cormorants are made to accompany the 

 young ones, the time required in training is reduced to one half. Birds not properly 

 trained after all the trouble thus taken are pronounced stupid and not fit for use. 



"The teaching being completed, the cormorants are fed sparingly every morning 

 with fish. A small ring of hemp is tied around their necks to prevent them swallow- 

 ing large fish, and they are taken on board the small punt called ' connorant-boat,' to 

 the number of ten or twelve. They are now as docile as dogs, and sit perched on the 

 side of the boat until they are sent into the water by a mere whistle from their 

 master. They dive after fish, and bring their prizes to the boat, firmly held in their 

 hooked beaks. When a fish is too large for one bird, three or more join their forces 

 and capture it together. Sometimes the fisherman signals them to dive by striking 

 the water with a long bamboo. If any cormorant is inclined to be disobedient, his 

 legs are connected by a short piece of string ; this forms a loop, by which the bird 

 may at any moment be brought on board, nolens volens, with a long bamboo hook. 



"After fishing two or three hours the birds are allowed to come on board and rest. 

 At the end of the day the hempen ring is loosened or removed altogether, and they are 

 either allowed to fish for themselves, or are fed by the hand of their master. Seizing 

 the birds one after another by the upper mandible, the fisherman thrusts into their 

 throats a handful of small fish and a ball of beancurd as large as his fist, the ingurgi- 

 tation of which he helps with the other hand by stroking the neck of the bird, who 

 seems to enjoy it, as he promptly returns for a second supply. The entire scene is 

 most ludicrous. At night the birds are brought home and caged. A cormorant 

 holds out for five years, at the end of which time these birds lose their feathers and 

 soon after die. The females, being weaker than the males, only catch small fish, 

 hence their lower value. Very good birds reach a value of Fls. 10 a pair, a well- 

 trained male being worth $6 or $7. The females lay when one year old." 



No one who is familiar with the look of the cormorant can fail to appreciate the gen- 

 eral resemblance of the darter as this bird is depicted in the accompanying cut, not only 

 in the way it sits up, but also in several features of form and structure. On the whole it 

 makes the impression of an exaggerated cormorant. The small head is still smaller, the 

 neck still longer and narrower, the 'kink' still more angular, the tail still more elon- 

 gated. The bill is more after the fashion of a heron than a cormorant, being stiaight, 

 compressed, pointed, without nail, lateral groove, but serrated along the cutting edges. 

 However, were it not for the many important anatomical features, the ANHIXGID^E would 

 have to be merged into the family of the cormorants. Having several times alluded to 

 the osteological characters of the darters, the only thing to be mentioned here is, that 

 the occipital style in Anhinga (or P 'lotus) anhinya is considerably smaller than in the 

 cormorants, while in A. levaillanti the medium raphe separating the temporal muscles 

 back of the skull is only fibrous, and not ossified, even in adult specimens, thus clearly 

 indicating the nature and origin of that bone. The muscular arrangement in the neck 



CD ^J C3 



is very peculiar on account of the excessive development of the long neck-muscles in 

 VOL. iv. 13 



