CORMORANT. I37 



autumn and winter, the crest and the white feathers disappear, 

 leaving the bird sufficiently sombre looking to deserve its common 

 name of Black. 



The Cormorant has a rank and most disagreeable smell, his 

 voice is hoarse and croaking, his form inelegant, and his qualities 

 base; so that it is no wonder Milton should make Satan assume the 

 form of this bird, to " survey undelighted " the beauties of Paradise ; 

 and " sit devising death " on the Tree of Life. 



The Great Cormorant, is a very common bird on the sea- 

 coast. Considerable numbers of them collect together at their 

 favourite breeding stations. They seldom come so far inland as 

 Herefordshire, but there are several instances on record of their 

 having done so. A Cormorant was shot on the river Wye, near 

 Ross, in the winter of 1856 ; on the river Lugg, near Kingsland, in 

 1859 ; on the Wye, near Hampton Bishop, in 1876 ; on a brook at 

 Tarrington, in 1878 ; and again on the Lugg, near Mordiford, in 

 1 88 1. The two last birds are in the Hereford Museum. 



The Cormorant is a bold intelligent bird, and very easily 

 tamed. It swims rapidly, and catches its prey with the greatest 

 ease, holding the fish with certainty, by means of the sharp 

 hook on the upper mandible. They were formerly trained to 

 catch fish, and bring them to their masters. Charles I. had a 

 " master of Cormorants " ; and it is well known that the Chinese 

 have long employed them for this purpose, putting a strap or ring 

 round their necks to prevent them from swallowing any fish 

 themselves, until they have caught sufficient for their master. A 

 gentleman in England, Captain Salvin, has now some trained 

 Cormorants, which he uses for this purpose. They are trouble- 

 some creatures, and require careful management. 



Captain Salvin gives names to his birds. In Gloucestershire 

 he was fishing with " The Artful Dodger," " Sub-inspector " and 

 " Kao-wang." The latter bird bred in 1881, and this year (1885), 

 he is breeding again, though in his twenty-third year. They are 

 very irregular in changing to the spring or nuptial dress, which 



