388 PHALACROCORAX CARBO. 



was forcibly crammed with flesh. On being removed to an 

 aquatic menagerie, and let loose, it instantly plunged into 

 the water, and dived incessantly, but not obtaining a single 

 fish, appeared to be convinced there were none, and made no 

 other attempt for three days, during which it was crammed 

 with flesh. Its proper food, however, was at length pro- 

 cured for it. It dived and seized its prey with surprising 

 dexterity, frequently proceeding under the surface to the 

 place where a fish had been thrown, and, when the water 

 was clear, taking it with certainty, often before it fell to the 

 bottom. It readily devoured three or four pounds of fish 

 twice a-day, so rapid was its digestion. When a large fish 

 stuck in the gullet, it inflated that part, and shook the head 

 and neck violently to promote its passage. In fishing it 

 always carried the head under water, in order, apparently, 

 to discover its prey at a greater distance, and with more 

 certainty. All fish were invariably turned in the bill, so 

 as to present the head foremost ; and when an eel, the most 

 favourite food, was not seized favourably, it was thrown up 

 to some distance, and caught in such a manner as to render 

 deglutition easy. It had a habit of beating the water with 

 its wings violently, without moving from the spot, each 

 beating being succeeded by a shake of the whole body and a 

 ruflling of all the feathers, at the same time covering itself 

 with the water. This action it repeated ten or twenty times 

 wuth small intervals of rest, and then repaired to a tump, or 

 some elevated place on shore, and spread or flapped its Avings 

 until they w^ere dry. It lived in perfect harmony with other 

 birds, and never attempted to ramble, but walked to the 

 house, entered the first open door without deference to 

 any one, and in fact w^as troublesomely tame. 



Mr. Audubon accounts for the flappings above mentioned 

 in this manner: — " Cormorants, Pelicans, Ducks, and other 

 water-birds of various kinds, are, like land-birds, at times 

 infested with insects, which lodge near the roots of their 

 feathers ; and to clear themselves of this vermin, they beat 

 up the water about them by flapping their wings, their 

 feathers being all the w hile ruffled up, and rub or scratch 

 themselves with their feet and claAvs, much in the same 



