106 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 with 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 will 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 water 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 writers, 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. pygmexus, 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,’ 
pl. 32) and two others (in the Museums of Leyden 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- 
1 See Capt. Salvin’s chapters on ‘‘ Fishing with Cormorants,” appended to 
his and Mr. Freeman’s Falconry (London : 1859). 
