CORMORANT. 37 1 



The Cormorant is a very dexterous and voracious fisher, com- 

 mitting great havoc when it visits pools and lakes ; but it almost 

 constantly resides on the sea-shores, and is seldom seen inland. 

 Swimming beneath the water with the velocity of a dart in the 

 air, and remaining a long time submerged, its prey scarcely 

 ever escapes, and it almost always rises with a fish in its bill, 

 to swallow which it employs the expedient of tossing it into 

 the air, and dexterously catches the head in its descent, so that 

 the fins lie flat, and thus favor the passage down the throat ; the 

 small pouch at the same time stretches so as to admit the whole 

 body of the fish, which is often very large in proportion to the 

 neck, and it there remains, undergoing a preparatory digestion 

 previous to its passage into the lower part of the stomach. 



In some countries, as in China, and formerly in England, the 

 dexterity of the Cormorant in fishing was turned to profit ; for 

 by buckling a ring about the lower part of the neck, to prevent 

 deglutition, and accustoming it to return with its acquisitions in 

 the bill to its master, it was made a useful and domestic fisher. 

 On the rivers of China, Cormorants thus fixed are perched on 

 the prows of boats, and at a signal made by striking the water 

 with an oar, they instantly plunge, and soon emerge with a fish, 

 which is taken from them. And this toil continues till its master 

 is satisfied ; he looses the collar, and finishes the task by allow- 

 ing it to fish for itself. But it is only hunger which gives activ- 

 ity to the Cormorant ; when glutted with its meal, which is soon 

 acquired, it relaxes into its native indolence, and dozes away 

 the greatest part of its time in gluttonous inebriety, perched 

 in soHtude on naked and insulated or inaccessible rocks, to 

 which it prudently retires for greater safety from the intrusion 

 of enemies. 



In Europe, where these birds are alike sedentary and averse 

 to migration, they are known to breed from the coasts of Hol- 

 land to the shores of Greenland, and they are equally residents 

 in America nearly to the extremity of the Union. The nest 

 is usually made with sticks, sea-weeds, grass, and other coarse 

 materials, commonly upon rocks, but sometimes upon trees on 

 the banks of rivers, where they are occasionally seen perched. 



