70 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Cormorants. 



•uch a horrid music that I was every moment obliged 

 to cover my head to gain a little relief to my ears. 

 The alarm which we spread was so much the more 

 general amone these innumerable legions of birds, 

 as we principally disturbed the females, which were 

 then sittinu ; they had nests, eggs, and young to 

 defend. They were like furious harpies let loose 

 against us, and their cries rendered us almost deaf. 

 They often flew so near us that they flapped tlieir 

 wings in our faces, and, though we tired our pieces 

 repeatedly, we were not able to frighten them ; it 

 seemed almost impossible to disperse this cloud. 

 We could not move one step without crushing either 

 their eggs or young, the earth was entirely strewed 

 with them." The same enthusiastic traveller also 

 narrates, that, on the Klein-brak river, whilst waiting j 

 for the ebb-tide, he saw assembled thousands of 

 pelicans and flamingoes, the white of the former 

 strongly contrasting with the scarlet of the latter. 



Besides the common pelican, another species (P. 

 crispus, Feldegg) inhabits south-eastern Europe. 

 In America there are two species, the P. trachy- 

 rhynchus, Latham, and the P. fuscus. The former 

 is numerous in the fur countries, where it was found 

 breeding by Dr. Richardson, on small rocky islands, 

 and the brink of cascades. 



The white pelican, when adult, has the plumage 

 generally of a pure white with a slight rose tinge ; 

 the feathers of the chest are long, firm, and silky, 

 with a tinge of fine straw yellow ; the quill-feathers 

 are black, but nearly concealed beneath the wing- 

 coverts, which are long and pointed and very regu- 

 larly and beautifully disposed: the bill is yellowish, 

 passing info red at the tip ; the sides of the lower 

 mandible and a line down the upper being lead- 

 coloured ; pouch yellow ; legs vivid ; space round 

 the eyes flesh-colour. Length nearly six feet; 

 expanse of wing twelve or thirteen feet. 



2070. — The Cormorant 



(Phalacrocorax, Carbo). In the present genus the 

 bill is long, straight, compressed, with the upper 

 mandible boldlyicurved at the point : the gullet is 

 large and dilatable ; sides of face and throat naked ; 

 nostrils basal and linear; tail ample and rigid. 



In the Zoological .Journal, vol. iv., Mr. Yarrell 

 has described an additional bone affixed to the 

 occiput of the cormorant, and which he calls a 

 xiphoid bone, giving origin on each side to a long 

 triangular muscle, acting, in addition to the ordinary 

 muscles, upon the lower jaw : he also notices the 

 great length of the os quadrafum. Fig. 2071 re- 

 presents the Skull, 1. and the Dissected Head, 2. 

 of the cormorant. The skull, 1. : a, the occipital 

 ridge ; b, the xiphoid bone ; c, the os quadratum. 

 Dissected head, 2. : a and b, muscles answering to 

 the temporal and massiter; c, the triangular muscle 

 arisinsr from the xiphoid bone and inserted into the 

 lower jaw. 



The range of the cormorant is very extensive ; it 

 is found on the Ganges of India, over the greater 

 part of Europe, and also in North America. It is 

 abundant in Holland at all seasons, and is common 

 in France and England ; numbers breed on the cliffs 

 of the Isle of Wight, and, according to Selby, on the 

 Farn or Fern Islands ; and flocks may often be seen 

 on sand-banks near our southern coast, on isolated 

 rocks, or sailing up and down near the shore, and 

 up the mouths of the larger rivers. Voracious in 

 the extreme, the cormorant is an unwearied and 

 active fisher, pursuing its prey beneath the water, 

 like the otter, occasionally rising to take breath, and 

 renewing the chase. Eels are said to be a favourite 

 food. The dilatable character of the gullet of this 

 bird permits it to swallow fish of considerable size 

 without difficulty, head foremost : but should the 

 fish be seized transversely, the bird jerks it into the 

 air, and dexterously catches it in the right position 

 as it falls. The cormorant swims so low in the water 

 that nothing but the head, neck, and top of the back 

 appear above the surface ; its tail, composed of stiff 

 elastic feathers, is submerged and used as a rudder in 

 its subaquatic evolutions, and the wings as oars ; the 

 address with which it dives, and the rapidity of its 

 movements, are wonderful, nor less so tire pertinacity 

 with which it pursues its victims. This interesting 

 bird sometimes builds its nest in trees, but generally 

 on the summits of rocks : the nest consists of dried 

 seaweeds ; in the Fern Islands, according to Mr. 

 Selby, the nests so composed are frequently two feet 

 in height. The eggs are from three to five in 

 number, of a bluish white. The young, when first 

 hatched, are naked, the skin being of a purplish 

 black ; in six or seven days they become covered 

 with black down, but the leathered plumage is not 

 perfected till a lapse of six weeks. Yet when only 

 half-fledged, if thrown into the water they imme- 

 diately dive and pursue their submarine course to a 

 great distance, using their imperfect wings in the 

 same manner, and with almost as much effect, as the 

 old birds. 

 In winter, flocks of cormorants often wander inland, 



and may be seen on lakes and rivers at a consider- I 

 able distance from the sea. | 



When the old birds are surprised pn the nest, 

 they have a strange habit of stretching out the 

 neck, raising up the head, opening the bill, and vi- | 

 brating the loose skin of the throat, while at the i 

 same time they utter a cry expressive of alarm and 

 anger. 



Ravenous as the cormorant is, it is easily tamed, | 

 and becomes very attached and familiar. One of 

 these birds, which was caught by accident, was kept 

 by Colonel Montagu, and soon became perfectly do- 

 mesticated ; it would join him at the fireside, and 

 dress its feathers with perfect self-possession. It 

 lived in perlect harmony with swans, geese, ducks, 

 and other birds, and was only excited by the sight 

 of a fish. It never attempted to stray, and would 

 walk in and out of the house regardless even of the 

 dog, and was, as the colonel says, " Troublesomely 

 tame." This character Mr. Selby states that he can 

 confirm, having himself kept these birds in a domes- 

 ticated state. 



As a further proof of the docile nature of this 

 bird, we may mention that both in our country and 

 in Holland it was trained to fish ; Wiilughby, quot- 

 ing Faber, says : " They are wont in England to train 

 cormorants to fishing: when they carry them out of 

 the room where they are kept to the fish-pools, they 

 hoodwink them, that they be not frightened by 

 the way ; when they come to the rivers they lake oft' 

 the hoods, and having tied a leather thong round the 

 lower part of their necks that they may not swallow 

 down the fish they catch, throw them into the river. 

 They presently dive under water, and there for a 

 long time with wonderful swiftness pursue the fish, 

 and when they have caught them they arise pre- 

 sently to the top of the water, and pressing the fish 

 lightly with their bills they swallow them, till each 

 bird hath after this manner devoured five or six 

 fishes. Then their keepers call them to the fist, to 

 which they readily fly, and little by little disgorge 

 all their fish, a little bruised with the nip they gave 

 them with their bills. When they have done fish- 

 ing, setting the birds on some high place, they 

 loose the string from their necks, leaving the pas- 

 sage to the stomach free and open, and for their re- 

 ward they throw them part of the prey they have 

 caught to each, perchance, one or two fishes, which 

 they by the way, as they are falling in the air, will 

 catch most dexterously in their mouths." Swammer- 

 dam states the circumstance of trained cormorants 

 being brought from Holland to England for sale. 

 Latham observes that "Whitelock says he had a 

 cast of them manned like hawks, and which would 

 come to hand ; and relates, that the best he had 

 were presented to him by Mr. Wood, master of the 

 cormorants to King Charles the First." In China at 

 the present day an allied species, the Ph. sinensis, 

 is bred and trained to fishing, it would appear, even 

 without a ligature round the neck ; as is narrated by 

 Sir George Staunton, who observed them on the 

 southern branch of the canal in his journey to Ilan- 

 choo-foo : he says, " On a large lake close to this part 

 of the canal, and to the eastward of it, are thousands 

 of small boats and rafts, built entirely for this spe- 

 cies of fishery. On each boat or raft are ten or a 

 dozen birds, which at a signal from the owner, plunge 

 into the water; and it is astonishing to see the 

 enormous size of the fish with which they return 

 grasped between their bills." Le Compte, an old 

 I French writer, states that the Chinese do put a string 

 round the birds' neck, contrary to what Sir G. 

 1 Staunton affirms ; and it is not improbable that 

 ' both may be correct. Fig. 2072 well illustrates the 

 Chinese mode of employing the birds in question. 

 The adult cormorant is a handsome bird. Top 

 1 of the head, neck, breast, lower part of the back, and 

 ! under surface of a glossy greenish black ; a white 

 I band stretches across the throat, and white silky 

 hair-like feathers are scattered over the upper part 

 j of the neck; top of the back and wings fine bronze 

 I brown, each feather having a marginal belt of rich 

 velvet black ; quill and tail feathers black ; bill 

 dusky ; skin of the throat yellow ; iris bright green ; 

 a whi'te patch upon the thighs ; legs dusky black. 

 A semi-erect crest on the back of the head. Length 

 j about three feet ; extent of wings nearly four feet. 



j 2073, 2074. — The Crested Cormorant 



(^Phalacrocorax crlstatvs). Cormoran Largup of 

 , Temminck : Shag or Green Cormorant of Gould, 

 ! Selby, and others. 



\ The crested cormorant, or shag, is widely spread 

 j over the north of Europe, but is not an American 

 : species. It is common on various parts of our coast, 

 I breeding in the clifis and on the ledges of perpen- 

 j dicular cliffs (not like the preceding, on the top), 

 and making a nest of seaweeds. Its habits, man- 

 ! ners, and food are precisely the same as those of the 

 cormorant, and require no separate detailed account. 

 The crest of this species, which consists of an oc- 

 cipital tutY of long green feathers, is lost after the 

 breeding season. (Fig. 2074.) The upper part of 



the back and shoulders of a deep bronzed green, 

 each feather being margined with velvet black ; 

 head, neck, and under suri'ace lustrous silky blackish 

 green ; tail oi twelve black feathers ; bill and legs 

 black ; guttural skin, and corners of the mouth 

 gamboge-yellow, the former with black specks; iris 

 green. Length two feet one or two inches. 



The foreign species of the genus Phalacrocorax are 

 very numerous, and generally distributed through- 

 out the ditt'erent quarters of the globe; Europe, 

 Asia, Africa, America, and Australia having their 

 respective examples. 



2075. — Le Vaillant's Darter, or Snake-Bird 

 (Plotus Levailhntii). The darters, or anhingas, as 

 Button and the French naturalists term them, are 

 most extraordinary birds, remarkable for the length 

 and slenderness of the neck, which bears no distant 

 resemblance to the slim form of a snake, attached 

 to the body of a cormorant ; the beak is long, 

 straight, pointed, and obliquely dentilated along the 

 edges: the face and throat are naked, the wings 

 rather short : the tail ample and composed of rigid 

 feathers. The darters perch upon trees along the 

 margin of rivers, lakes, and creeks : they swim with 

 the body completely submerged, the long neck 

 alone rising out of the water. When thus seen, 

 they might be mistaken at a casual glance for 

 snakes, and Le Vaillant says that when the birds are 

 perching the neck, 'is in a slate of constant oscilla- 

 tion, and that any one who saw its tortuous move- 

 ments amidst the foliage of the trees, the body being 

 concealed, would take it for one of the tree-ser- 

 pents. 



During flight the neck is stretched out in a line 

 with the body. The species are limited ; one is 

 found in the Old World, — one in the New. 



Le Vaillant's darter is a native of Senegal, the 

 Cape of Good Hope, some parts of India, and of 

 the Islands of Java and Sumatra. It feeds on fish, 

 which it pursues, like the cormorant, under water, 

 using its tail as a rudder in its subaquatic evolu- 

 tions. 



Small fish are swallowed whole, but larger prey 

 is carried to the trunk of a tree or rock, where the 

 bird, fixing it securely beneath its feet, picks it to 

 pieces. Though the water is the favourite element 

 of the darter, according to Le Vaillant, it is upon 

 trees and rocks that it establishes its nest and rears its 

 young ; always choosing situations favourable to the 

 escape of the brood, when fledged, or when alarmed, 

 into the water. This species is extremely shy and 

 wary, and difficult of approach ; so instantaneous 

 are its actions in the water, that it dives before the 

 shot reaches it, upon the drawing of the trigger, and 

 often doubles back, emerging far behind the sports- 

 man, and, taking wing, sails away to a distance. In 

 full plumage all the upper part of the head and 

 back of the neck are brick red, bordered with a 

 riband of black which descends to the shoulders ; 

 forehead, cheeks and sides of neck white ; throat 

 and anterior part of neck, ochre-yellow ; chest and 

 under parts black, with green reflexions ; base of the 

 neck, reddish, with spots of white ; upper surface 

 brown, the middle of each feather of a bright rust 

 colour; quills and tail brown; beak and feet 

 yellow. 



2076, 2077.— The American Darter 



(Plulus Anhinya). The American Darter, or Snake- 

 bird, is a native of the Carolinas, Georgia, the Flo- 

 ridas, and Louisiana; it is common in Brazil and 

 Cayenne. Like the African species it swims with 

 the body submerged, and its long neck vibrating in - 

 a pecular manner. "The first individual," says Mr. % 

 Ord, " that I saw in Florida was sneaking away to " 

 avoid me along the shore of a reedy mai-sh, which 

 was lined with alligators ; and the first impression on 

 my mind was that I beheld a snake, but the recol- 

 lection of the habits of the bird soon undeceived 

 me. To pursue these birds at such times is useless, 

 as they cannot be induced to rise or even expose 

 their bodies." " Wherever," adds the same natu- 

 ralist, " the limbs of a tree project over and dip into 

 the waters, there the darters are sure to be found, 

 these situations being convenient resting-places for 

 the purpose of sunning and preening themselves, and 

 probably giving them a better opportunity of ob- | 

 serving their finny prey. They crawl from the water 

 upon the limbs, and fix themselves in an upright 

 position, which they maintain in the utmost silence. 

 If there be foliage or long moss, they secrete them- 

 selves in it in such a manner that they cannot be 

 perceived unless one be close to them. When ap- 

 proached, they drop into the water with such sur- 

 prising skill that one is astonished how so large a 

 body can plunge with so little noise, the agitation 

 of tire water being apparently not greater than that 

 occasioned by the gliding of an eel." 



Bartram, who states that he has seen paintings of 

 the darter on Chinese screens, and other Indian 

 pictures, was not, we suppose, aware of the distinc- 

 tion between the American and Old World species 



