LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 241 



a height as from a cliff and dive into the sea. This they are apt to 

 do when shot at or otherwise disturbed. 



The position of the cormorant on a perch is very characteristic 

 by reason of the long neck which takes on an S curve, and the long 

 tail wliich points diagonally downward or is slightly elevated to 

 clear the ground. The gait of this bird is a Avaddle of the most 

 marked description. It may be seen asleep on rocks or sandbars 

 Avith head buried in the scapulars and the tail elevated. At their 

 nesting places in cliffs they support themselves on the vertical faces 

 by their claws and tail like woodpeckers. The most characteristic 

 attitude of the cormorant, however, is the spread-eagle one with 

 Avings widely open. This attitude is assumed on trees or buoys, on 

 rocks or sand and even on the surface of the water— sometimes for 

 minutes together. On one occasion I timed an individual wdio sat 

 thus on a rock for ten minutes. The position is generally supposed 

 to be assumed for the purpose of drying the wings, but, if so, it is 

 not assumed by other water birds, who content themselves with 

 flapping and shaking their wings. I have seen cormorants assume 

 the spread-eagle position on foggy, rainy daj^s, and I am inclined 

 to think that the habit is derived from the same ancestors that be- 

 queatlied it, to the vultures, for cormorants and vultures are now 

 believed to be allied. 



The cormorant is not a song bird, and, as far as I know, he utters 

 his feelings only in harsh, guttural croaks. 



Although Longfellow has made us familiar with the •' fierce cor- 

 morant," this bird seems to get along peaceably Avith other birds. 

 As already stated it nests in communities with the double-crested 

 species. G. M. Allen (1918) quotes from the notes of B. F. Damsell 

 the interesting case of a cormorant that took refuge in an oak tree 

 from the attacks of tAvo kingbii'ds. From the tree it fell to the 

 ground and w\as found to have a broken w'ing that had healed. 



Man, as ahvays, is the cormorant's worst enemy, although its flesh 

 and eggs are so fishy that they are but indifferent eating. I haA^e 

 already quoted William Wood on the subject. Josselyn (1GT4) 

 giA^es a similar verdict and describes more in detail the Indians' 

 method of capture. He saA's: 



I have not done jet, uoi- must not forget the cormorant, Shape or Sharke; 

 though I can not commend them to our curious palats. The Indians Avill eat 

 tliem Avhen they are fley'd, they take them prettily, they roost in the night 

 upon some Rock that lyes out in the Sea, thither the Indian goes in his Birch- 

 Canoic when the Moon shines clear, and when he is come almost to it, he lets 

 his Canow drive on of its self, when he is come under the Rock he droves his 

 Boat along till he come just under the Cormorants watchman, the rest being 

 asleep, and so soundly do sleep that they will snore like so many Piggs; 

 the Indian thrusts up his hand of a sudden, grasping the Avatchman so hard 

 round his neck that he can not cry out ; as soon as he hath him in his Canow 



