] 70 Cormorant. 



back in the cormorant? They are so much so, that the bird 

 stands nearly erect. The reason is this. The Deity has 

 determined, in his wisdom, that the one bird should seek its 

 food on the surface of the water, and the other beneath it; 

 that one also should feed while on land as well as water, but 

 the other in the water exclusively. Now, the gull cannot dive, 

 however well it can swim ; and, in consequence, it can only 

 obtain such prey or edible substances as are to be found 

 floating on or near the surface: but the cormorant subsists 

 on fishes, which it pursues under water; and the backward 

 position of the legs, it will be evident, must assist it most 

 materially in diving after them. You will observe a differ- 

 ence, too, in the manner in which the foot is webbed in the 

 two species : in the gull, the back toe is very small, and not 

 connected with the others ; while in the cormorant, it is not 

 only of considerable length, but is united by a membrane to 

 the other three, so that, in this bird, the whole four toes are 

 webbed and connected together; a circumstance which tends to 

 give great velocity to it when diving in pursuit of prey ... If 

 you examine the leg (tarsus) of a duck or goose, you will find 

 that, though it is compressed laterally, still it has considerable 

 thickness in front. These birds, however, do not require to 

 swim with great velocity, and, in fact, a slow and deliberate 

 examination and search with their bills is the most usual way 

 of obtaining their subsistence. But we may readily conceive 

 that in a bird, which, like the cormorant, depends chiefly 

 for its success in capturing its prey on the rapidity with 

 which the latter can be followed, such a leg would be less 

 properly fitted, since it would offer considerable resistance 

 and retard the velocity. Now, here, again, we have an ex- 

 ample of that wisdom which pervades everything, whether 

 the revolutions of worlds, the motions of a fly, or the struc- 

 ture of a bird. The cormorant's leg is so flattened on the 

 sides, that the anterior edge which cuts the water is not 

 thicker than the blade of a carving-knife. Then, again, ob- 

 serve how the bird is adapted in other respects to its mode of 

 life. Its compressed legs, and the rapidity with which it can 

 pursue fish, would still avail it little, were not its beak par- 

 ticularly formed for holding its slippery capture. This, in- 

 stead of being spoon-shaped like a duck's, is long, and has 

 at the end of the upper mandible a sharp hooked nail, which 

 serves admirably for holding the fish : but still something 

 more is wanting; for however well the position of the foot, 

 the form of the leg, and that of the bill, may be up to the 

 point of seizing the prey, how is the latter to be disposed of 

 when it is captured, seeing that often it is very large, and 



