132 CHINA. 



CovoRAKTs fifliing, one is by means of a fpecies of Corvorant trained' 



TRAINED FOR _ , ' , „ • -i n /r tit- i m rv 



risHiNc. for the purpolc. By the figure given by Mr. Nieubof, p. ii»» 



it feems the very fame to our common kind •'■•. The Cbinefe call 

 it LonTca. In Mr. Willughbf^ ornithology p. 329, we find that 

 this fpecies of fiflieries was in old times frequently pra6tifed in 

 England. Mr. Latham^ vi. 346. informs us that a kind of diver 

 is iifed alfo for the fame purpofe. " In the morning" (fays Du 

 Halde, i. 316.) " when the fun rifes one may fee on the rivers a 

 " confiderable number of boats, and feveral of thefe birds fitting 

 " at the head of them. Then the fiflierraen turning their boats 

 ** about, at the fignal given by ftriking the water with an oar, 

 *' the cormorants fly into the river, one here, another there, and 

 " diving to the bottom, feize the fifh they light on by the 

 " middle ; then rifing up again, they carry it to the bark, where 

 " the fiflierman receiving it, takes the bird, and holding its head 

 " downwards, pafles his hand along the neck to make it difgorge 

 " the fmall fifii that it had fwallowed, but is hindred from 

 going into the gullet by a ring put on the lower part of the 

 neck ; which after the fifliing is quite over, they take off and 

 give them fomething to eat. When the fifli happens to be 

 " too large for one bird, they mutually affifl: each other ; one 

 *< takes the tail, another the head, and bring it to the boat to 

 ** their mafter." 



The other way of taking nfli is very fimple, and gives but 

 little trouble ; for this purpofe they make ufe of long narrow 



* This Corvorant proves to be a diftina fpecies, diftinguiflied by the name oiPclkanus SI. 

 ner,fu, and is figured in the 37th plate of Sir G. Staunton's Account of the Embaffy to China ; 

 the mode of conveying thefe birds from place to place is delineated in Vol. ii. p. 389. of that 

 entertaining and interefting work. E. 



boats,. 





