THE CORMORANT, 621 



little more than the neck and liead being visible above the surface. It dives most 

 expertly, pursuing the fish that forms its food with great activity under water. It flies 

 with the neck outstretched, and may often be seen drying its drenched plumage on the 

 shore or on insulated rocks. 



On the Fern Islands the nest is composed entirely of a mass of sea- weed, frequently 

 heaped up to the height of two feet, in which are deposited fi'om three to five eggs of a 

 pale bluish white, with a rough surface. 



According to Mr. Laing, in the parish of North Mevan, in Shetland, there are two very 

 high, inaccessible, rocky pillars, on which the cormorant breeds. What is verj^ extra- 

 ordinary, the rock possessed by these birds one year is deserted the next, and returned to 

 again after being a year unpossessed. This singular practice has been continued during 

 the memory of man. In winter those birds disperse along the shores, and, visiting the 

 fresh waters, commit great depredations among the fish. 



" The young, when first hatched," says Mr. Sclby, " are quite naked and very ugly, 

 the skin being of a purplish black ; this, in six or seven days, becomes clothed with a 

 thick black down ; but the feathered plumage is not perfected in less than five or six 

 weeks. I have repeatedly found that, on being thrown into the sea, even when scarcely 

 half-fledged, they immediately plunge beneath the surface, and endeavour to escape by 

 diving. This the)^ will do to a great distance, using their imperfect wings, and 

 pursuing their submarine flight in the ,same manner, and almost with as much effect, as 

 their parents." 



The smell of the Cormorant, when alive, is more rank and offensive than that of any 

 other bird ; and its flesh is so disgusting that the Greenlanders will scarcely taste it. 

 In Orkney, however, the yoimg are sometimes regarded as delicious, esj)ecially if kept 

 under groimd for twenty-four hours, so as to make them tender and deprive them of 

 their fishy taste. In this state they are said to furnish soup but little inferior to that 

 of the hare. 



It is not uncommon to see about a score of these birds together, on the rocks of the 

 sea-shore, with expanded wings, drj-ing themselves in the wind. In this attitude they 

 sometimes remain for nearly an hour, without once closing their wings ; and as soon as 

 the latter are sufficiently dry to enable the feathers to imbibe the oil, they press that 

 liquid from its receptacle, and dress their feathers with it, at the instant when it can be 

 most advantageously spread upon them. 



Cormorants were formerly occasionally trained in England to catch fish for the table. 

 For this purpose the}' were kept with great care in the house, and when taken out for 

 fishing, they had a leathern thong tied round their neck, to prevent them from swallow- 

 ing their prey. 



Willughby, quoting Faber, says : " When they carry them out of the rooms where 

 they are kept, to the fish-pools, they hoodwink them, that they may not be frightened 

 by the way. When they are come to the. rivers, they take oS their hoods, and having 

 tied a leather thong round the lower part of their necks, that the}' may not swallow 

 down the fish they catch, they throw them into the river. They presently dive under 

 water; and there, for a long time, with wonderful swiftness, pursue the fish; and when 

 they have caught them, rise to the top of the water, and pressing the fish lightly with 

 their bills, swallow them, till each bird hath, after this manner, devoured five or six 

 fishes. Then their keepers call the cormorants ; and one after another vomit up all 

 their fish, a little bruised with the first nip given in catching them. When they have 

 done fishing, taking the birds on some high place, they loose the string from their 

 necks, leaving the passage to the stomach free and o^dcu ; and, for their reward, they 

 throw them part of their prey ; to each, one or two fishes, which they will catch most 

 dexterously as tliey are falling in the air." 



