372 THE CORMORANT. 



is extremely rapid, and it therefore requires a proportionally 

 larger supply of food, of which if it is deprived it soon dies, 

 as is often known to be the case. Thus, on the western coast 

 of the Hebrides, these poor birds suffer severely, when, during 

 and after a continued gale, the Atlantic rolls in its enormous 

 billows, dashing them against the headlands, and scouring 

 with their fury the sounds and creeks. As far as the eye can 

 reach, the ocean boils and heaves, presenting one boundless 

 field of foam, the spray from the summits of the waves sweeping 

 along the waste like drifted snow : no sign of life is to be 

 seen, save when a Gull, labouring hard to bear itself up against 

 the blast, hovers overhead, or darts by like a meteor. If, at 

 such a season, the haunts of the Cormorants are visited, they 

 will be found huddled together in their caves and crevices, 

 perishing with hunger, and their numbers daily thinning by 

 death. If, indeed, they could venture out, and bear the 

 buffeting of the storm, they would still fail in procuring food ; 

 for, as in fishing, these birds always carry their heads under 

 water, in order that, with their keen, clear, and beautiful eye, 

 they may discover their prey at a greater distance, it is obvious 

 that in such commotions of the air and water, they would 

 need even a quicker glance than they possess. The use they 

 make of their bills in feeding shows remarkable ingenuity, 

 as well as agility : if the fish happens to be a flat one — a 

 flounder, for instance — they will turn it, so as to place it in 

 the most commodious position for slipping down the throat ; 

 if, on the contrary, it happens to be an eel, which has been 

 seized in an unfavourable position for gorging, they will throw 

 it up, as a cook does a pancake, and catch it in the fall. 



Wild and desolate as are the habitations of these birds, 

 and little as they seem to have in common with man, yet, 

 judging from one which was caught young, and reared, they 

 are not only docile, but grateful and affectionate, This bird,* 

 though it had fasted twenty-four hours, during its journey by 

 coach to the place where it was sent as a present, refused 

 every sort of food. It was therefore crammed with raw flesh, 

 as no fish could be procured. It submitted patiently to this 

 * Sec Montague's Omithol. Diet. 



