io6 CORMORANT 



an arrow in quest of its prey, rapidly scanning every hole or pool. 

 A fish is generally seized within a few seconds of its being sighted, 

 and as each is taken the bird rises to the surface Avith its capture 

 in its bill. It does not take much longer to dispose of the prize in 

 the dilatable skin of its throat so far as the strap \vill allow, and 

 the pursuit is recommenced until the bird's gular pouch, capacious 

 as it is, will hold no more. It then returns to its keeper, who has 

 been anxiously watching and encouraging its movements, and a 

 little manipulation of its neck effects the delivery of the booty. It 

 may then be let loose again, or, if considered to have done its work, 

 it is fed and restored to its perch. The activity the bird displays 

 under Avater is almost incredible to those who have not seen its 

 performances, and in a shallow river scarcely a fish escapes its keen 

 eyes and sudden turns, except by taking refuge under a stone or 

 root, or in the mud that may be stirred up during the operation, 

 and so avoiding observation.^ 



Nearly allied to the Cormorant, and having much the same 

 habits, is the Shag, or Green Cormorant of some writei-s, P. graculus. 

 The Shag (which name in many parts of the world is used in 

 a generic sense) is, however, about one -fourth smaller in linear 

 dimensions, is much more glossy in plumage, and its nuptial 

 embellishment is a nodding plume instead of the white patches of 

 the Cormorant. The easiest diagnostic on examination will be 

 found to be the number of tail-feathers, which in the former are 

 fourteen and in the Shag twelve. The latter, too, is more marine 

 in the localities it frequents, seldom entering fresh or indeed inland 

 waters. 



In the south of Europe a still smaller species, P. pygmxus, is 

 found. This is almost entirely a fresh -water bird, and is not 

 uncommon on the lower Danube. Other species, to the number 

 perhaps of thirty or more, have been discriminated from other parts 

 of the world, but all have a great general similarity to one another. 

 A large and very richly -coloured species, P. perspicillatus, which 

 formerly frequented Bering Island off the coast of Kamchatka, was 

 in 1882 ascertained by Dr. Stejneger to have been extirpated some 

 thirty years before {Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. 1883, p. 65). A specimen 

 now in the British Museum was figured by Gould {Voy. ^Sulphur,' 

 pi. 32) and two others (in the Museums of Ley den and St. Peters- 

 burg respectively), with a few bones, brought to Washington by 

 Dr. Stejneger, are all the remains of it known to exist. New 

 Zealand and the west coast of Northern America are particularly 

 rich in birds of this genus, and the species found there are the 

 most beautifully decorated of any. All, however, are remarkable 

 for their curiously -formed feet, the four toes of each being con- 



^ See Capt. Salvin's chapters on "Fishing with Cormorants," appended to 

 his and Mr. Freeman's Falconry (Loudon : 1859). 



