98 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



that it can be torn open with its long, weak bill, 

 but it never attempts to bolt it whole as the 

 cuckoo does. 



One day when sitting on the bank of Beaulieu 

 River in Hampshire I saw a cormorant come up 

 with a good-sized eel it had captured and was 

 holding by the neck close to the head, but the 

 long body of the eel had wound itself serpent-wise 

 about the bird's long neck, and the cormorant was 

 struggling furiously to free itself. Unable to do 

 so it dived, thinking perhaps to succeed better 

 under water, but when it reappeared on the sur- 

 face the folds of the eel appeared to have tightened 

 and the bird's struggles were weaker. Again it 

 dived, and then again three or four times, still 

 keeping its hold on the eel, but struggling more 

 feebly each time. Finally it came up without 

 the eel and so saved itself, since if it had 

 kept its hold a little longer it would have been 

 drowned. 



In my Land's End book I have given an account 

 of a duel between a seal and a huge conger-eel it 

 had captured by the middle of the body, the 

 conger-eel having fastened its teeth in the seal's 

 head. 



An odd way in which birds occasionally kill 

 themselves is by getting a foot caught in long 

 horse-hajr or thread used in building. I have 

 seen sparrows and house-martins dead, suspended 

 from the nest by a hair or thread under the nest 

 in this way. 



