370 ' FISHING CORMORANTS. 



Cormorant, called by them Loo-fou, as fishing birds. Mr. 

 Smith, an intelligent missionary, gives a detailed account of 

 this mode of fishing, which came under his immediate obser- 

 vation when at Nantai, in China. Generally about the time 

 of low water a boatman might be seen near the arches of the 

 bridge, with four or five Cormorants perched on its gunwale. 

 At a given signal from the owner, one of these birds bounded 

 from the boat into the stream, and after looking about for a 

 few moments, dived to the bottom, becoming invisible, some- 

 times for two minutes, when it generally arose at forty or 

 fifty yards' distance to breathe. After another minute the 

 bird again descended, and repeated the process till it brought 

 a fish to the surface struggling in its beak. This was a signal 

 to the boatman to paddle his little vessel to the spot, where 

 he cast a net into the river, and hauled both bird and fish 

 into the boat. The bird, conscious of its desert, flapped its 

 wings, and by various odd motions sought the usual reward of 

 a piece of fish or other food for its success. Sometimes two 

 Cormorants were fishing at the same time, and were often for 

 many minutes apparently lost. The fisherman, however, easily 

 followed them, his little boat consisting merely of half-a-dozcn 

 bamboo poles, which formed a light raft sufficient for himself 

 and the birds, and was easily paddled with a single oar. 

 During the time Mr. Smith watched their operations, they 

 caught three or four fish, one of which was more than the 

 captor could manage, and weighed down its bill below the 

 stream as it floated towards the raft. It is said that a ring 

 placed round the lower portion of the throat of their fishing 

 Cormorants, disables them from swallowing their prey before 

 the boatman arrives to the rescue. 



To the Pelican succeeds the Cormorant ; so closely, indeed, 

 are they allied, that many naturalists have classed them 

 together, and given them the same scientific name. The 

 Cormorant, however, may be distinguished by the claw of the 

 middle toe being indented like a saw,* probably to help him 

 in retaining the slippery bodies of small fish, as the toothed 

 claw of the Herons serves for a similar purpose. Possibly it 

 * See figure inserted in page 366. 



