THE CORMORANT. 43? 



reward of a piece of fish or other food for its success. 

 Sometimes two cormorants were fishing at the same/ 

 time, and were often for many minutes apparently lost. 

 The fisherman, however, easily followed them, his little 

 boat consisting merely of half a dozen bamboo poles, 

 which formed a light raft sufficient for himself and the 

 birds, and was easily paddled with a single oar. During 

 the time Mr. Smith watched their operations, they 

 caught three or four fish, one of which was more than 

 the captor could manage, and weighed down its bill 

 below the stream as it floated towards the raft. It is 

 said that a ring placed round the lower portion of the 

 throat of their fishing Cormorants, disables them from 

 swallowing their prey before the boatman arrives to the 

 rescue. 



To the Pelican succeeds the Cormorant; so closely, 

 indeed, are they allied, that many naturalists have 

 classed them together, and given them the same scien- 

 tific name ; for instance, our common Cormorant is 

 called Pelicanus carbo. The Cormorant, however, may 

 be distinguished by the claw of the middle toe being in- 

 dented like a saw*, probably to help him in retaining 

 the slippery bodies of small fish, as the toothed claw of 

 the Herons serves for a similar purpose. Possibly it 

 may further serve so awkwardly-shaped a bird, by ena- 

 bling it to cling to branches ; for, although they usually 

 frequent rocks and precipices, they can, and very often 

 do, perch on trees. The poet, Milton, seems to have 

 been aware of this, when he describes Satan taking the 

 form of this ill-favoured bird, when he first entered 

 Paradise, devising the ruin of our first parents: 



Up he flew, and on the tree of life 



Sat like a Cormorant devising death 

 To them that lived. 



The poet could not, indeed, easily have selected a fitter 

 frame for the foul fiend than that of a Cormorant : there 



* See figure inserted in page 339. 



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