THE FISHING CORVORANT. 



;09 



Dampier gives us a curious account of the hostilities between what 

 he calls Man-of-war Birds, and the Boobies, in the Alcrane Islands, 

 on the coast of Yucatan. " These birds were crowded so thick, that 

 I could not (he says) pass their haunts without being incommoded by 

 their pecking. I observed that thej were ranged in pairs ; which 

 made me presume that they were male and female. V7hen I struck 

 them some flew av;ay ; but the greater number remained, and would 

 not stir, notwithstanding all I could do to rouse them. I remarked 

 also, that the Man-of-war Birds and the Boobies always placed sentinels 

 over their young-ones, especially when they went to sea for provisions. 

 Of the Man-of-war Birds, many were sick or maimed, and seemed unfit 

 to procure their subsistence. They lived not with the rest of their 

 kind ; being either expelled from society, or separated by choice, and 

 vrere dispersed in difl'erent places, probably that they might have a 

 better opportunity of pillaging. On one of the islands I once saw 

 more than twenty sally out from time to time into the open country, 

 in order to carry off booty, and return again almost immediately. 



When one of them 



^^ ^ ~^ ^S_^ surprised a young 



"^ "" ~' Booby that had. no 



^ -^=^_ guard, he gave it a 



violent })eck on the 

 back to make it dis- 

 gorge ; which it did 

 instantly : it cast up 

 one or two iSsh about 

 the bulk of one's 

 hand, which the old 

 Man-of-war Bird 

 swallowed. The vig- 

 orous ones play the 

 same game with the 

 old Boobies which 

 they find at sea. I 

 saw one myself, which 

 flew right against a 

 Booby ; and, with 

 one stroke of its bill, 

 made him deliver up 

 a fish that he had 

 just swallowed. The 

 Manof-war Bird 

 darted so rapidly, aa 

 w catch this fish in the air before it could fall into the water." 



BOOST OF THE B.\SS BOCK. 



THE FI3HLNG CORVOBANT 



The following account of this Chinese bird, by Sir George Staunton, 

 is the most authentic of any that has yet been given to us : 



