286 



DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS, AND PELICANS. 



The Common Cormorant (Fig. 104) has a massive and rather 

 awkward body, feet short and drawn back to the abdomen, the 

 head flattened and small, the guttural pouch very small. Their 

 bulk varies, according to the species, from the size of a Goose to 

 that of a Teal. On the south coast of England they are large 

 birds, Pennant having weighed one which exceeded seven pounds, 

 and measured three feet four inches. Their blackish plumage has 

 given the idea of some resemblance existing between them and the 

 Crow ; hence their name, " Cormorant," from Corvus varans, which 

 signifies a voracious Crow. 



These birds have a wide geographical distribution, being found 



Fig. 104. Cormorant (Pkalacrocorax carbo, Gould). 



in all parts of the globe, and always on the sea- coast or at the 

 mouths of rivers. They are excellent swimmers and clever divers, 

 pursuing with extraordinary rapidity the fish on which they feed. 

 The Cormorant swallows its prey head first ; and if it happens 

 to catch it by the wrong end, it will throw it up in the air, and 

 seize it again in its bill as it descends in the proper position. 

 When it has caught an eel, a good half-hour sometimes elapses 

 before it can succeed in swallowing it. It may be seen making the 

 most violent efibrts to swallow its prey ; and just at the moment 

 when one would think that the slippery morsel was successfully 

 absorbed, the fish suddenly reappears again from the depths of 



