132 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



Fishing with cormorants is not a complicated 

 business. The birds need scarcely any training. 

 A young cormorant is captured and tamed by 

 allowing it a sufficiency of fish as food. When 

 the owner believes it old enough to begin work, 

 he deposits it in a basket and carries it to the 

 fishing ground. A metal ring is then slipped over 

 the narrow head of the bird and down the neck to 

 the shoulders. One foot is secured by a long 

 string and the cormorant is tossed into the water. 

 The fishing has begun. 



Following its natural instinct, the cormorant 

 immediately begins to dive and swim beneath the 

 surface at great speed. Presently there sounds 

 a slight splash near the boat; the bird appears 

 with a fish gripped crosswise in its sharp bill. 

 With a gulp it is swallowed, and the cormorant 

 plunges once more beneath the water. These 

 actions are repeated over and over again until 

 the small fish, prevented by ~the metal ring from 

 entering the stomach of the bird, distend its throat 

 into the form of a pouch. 



The owner now decides that his cormorant has 

 caught all the fish it can hold and pulls it aboard 

 by the string, hand over hand. Before seizing the 

 bird the fisherman dons a mask to protect him 

 from any sudden thrust from that needle-like 

 bill. Then, grasping the cormorant, he strips 

 its throat of its contents, depositing the fish in the 

 boat and tossing the bird overboard again. When 



