ig6 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



depths of the sea, and again are as mysteriously and 

 stealthily withdrawn ; and such is the effect thereof, 

 that the "clever" sportsman at last becomes con- 

 vinced that he has been made the dupe of the wily 

 birds ; for when the shot was fired, they dropped in 

 a prompt and nimble manner from off their snug 



way. A French naturalist has observed, that the 

 "nature of the cormorant is gentle [douce) and he 

 lives in harmony with the birds who frequent the 

 same waters. It is only gulls to whose pursuit he is 

 disposed when they have captured a fish ; but the 

 covetousness ceases when they have swallowed it, 



Fig. 149. — The Cormorant ( Phalacrocorax carbo). 



perches, and leaped, not " dead as mutton," 

 but " all alive " into the opaque and shelter- 

 ing recesses of the ocean. 



Viewed in a general way, cormorants may 

 be regarded as birds of eminent strength 

 and endurance, of unshakable tenacity of 

 life, of marvellous vigilance and cunning, of 

 insatiable voracity, and of excessively rapid 

 digestion. Some naturalists aver that their 

 nature is gentle and pleasant, but we have 

 never seen any indication about them of any 

 special amiability. They may be pronounced 

 "vulgar" birds. There is a coarseness, a 

 roughness about their build, plumage, and 

 general aspect, that certainly does not excite 

 the aesthetic sensibilities ; and the horrible 

 odour that emanates from their breeding 

 places would be alone sufficient to identify 

 them with loathsome filth and abomination. 

 They constitute the democracy, or we might 

 rather say the mobocracy of sea-birds ; and it is 

 certainly true that you seldom or never see a respect- 

 able-looking bird consorting with them in any 



Fig. 150.— The Crested Cormorant (Plialacrocorax cristatus). 



and he abandons all pursuit." The well-known pet 

 cormorant of Colonel Montagu is described as 

 beautiful, intelligent, and even troublesomely tame. 



