138 



CORMORANT. 



world ; in the south of Europe, in Peru, New Zealand, 

 and Mexico. 



Coriaria is the only genus of the order. 



Coriaria myrtifolia grows in hedges, and thickest in 

 the southern parts of Europe and in the north of 

 Africa. Its leaves and young branches are astringent, 

 and are used in dyeing black and in tanning. The 

 plant yields a poisonous fruit, which has proved fatal 

 on some occasions. Several soldiers of the French 

 army, in Catalonia, were stupefied by eating it, and 

 some died from its effects. 



its leaves are said to be sometimes mixed with 

 those of senna. According to M. Guibourt, this 

 adulteration is detected by the infusion with hot 

 water, having a pale yellow colour and astringent 

 taste, by a white precipitate being thrown down by 

 gelatin, a blue by sulphate of iron, a black by nitrate 

 of silver and nitro-muriate of gold, and a gelatinous 

 compound by caustic potass, 



CORMORANT (Phalacrocorax], a genus of sea- 

 birds belonging to the family of Totipalma:, or those 

 which have the hind toe included in the web of the 

 foot, as well as the three front ones. The structure 

 and action of a foot of this kind will be found noticed 

 in the article BIRD ; so that we need not repeat it 

 here. In their general characters, this genus is 

 nearly allied to the pelicans, and were included in the 

 same genus by Linnaeus and his followers ; but Cuvier 

 has very properly separated them, as they are so dif- 

 ferent both in structure and in their general economy, 

 that the same description will not apply to them, and 

 when that is the case there ought always to be a 

 separation of genera. 



Cormorants are sometimes called sea ravens, or sea 

 crows, and they have nearly the same voracity as the 

 land ravens, though their prey and manner of catch- 

 ing it are both very different. Cormorants generally 

 fish near the shores, and are more frequently on the 

 wing over the water than at rest upon the rocks. 

 When they pursue their prey in the sea, they do not 

 hesitate in coming near inhabited places ; but when 

 they fish in the fresh waters they choose more lonely 

 haunts. They catch their prey, which consists wholly 

 or chiefly of fish, by the middle with the bill ; and as 

 they cannot easily swallow it from this position, or in- 

 deed if it is presented to the gullet in any other way 

 than head foremost, they throw it into the air and 

 seize it with great dexterity as it falls. All birds 

 which fish along the surface of the water, and indeed 

 all animals which swallow their prey without masti- 

 cating or dividing it with the teeth, are dexterous at 

 this mode of turning a fish. 



This is one of the most remarkable instances of 

 adaptation with which we meet in nature, and 

 ought to teach us to look for the intelligence "of 

 the creature somewhere else than in the creature 

 itself, is the fact that the action performed in this 

 perfect manner by the organised animal is not the 

 result of the organisation, neither is the organisation 

 the result of the action. A cormorant does not 

 catch fish by dashing into the water, and following 

 them to a greater or less depth, as may be neces- 

 sary, because its feet, its wings, its bill, and all the 

 other parts of its organisation are fitted for such pur- 

 poses, any more than it throws the fish up into the air, 

 because it has a knowledge that the fish will come 

 down in a more manageable posture for swallowing 

 than that in which it is seized by the bill. As little 

 can we say that the bill has or can have any controul 



over what its organisation shall be, for the organisa- 

 tion precedes the action in the order of nature. The 

 instinct follows the race, and is true to it ; which we 

 find is not the case cilher in knowledge or in action 

 with us. Therefore, when we examine the UK in- 

 curious functions which are performed by the low- r 

 animals (as we term them), we meet with far morn 

 striking evidences of Almighty wisdom ami power 

 than we do in the case of human conduct. There arc- 

 no productions which assist us more in the forming of 

 these general views than those birds which seek their 

 food in the waters ; and as the cormorants find their 

 food by skill and energy, not by craft, there are few 

 sea birds better worthy our attention. 



The characters of the genus are as follows : The 

 bill long, or of mean length, compressed, rounded in 

 the culrnen, straight for the greater part of its length, 

 but much hooked at the tip of the upper mandible, 

 and having the extremity of the lower one truncated, 

 so as to act against the hook. The base of the bill 

 has a small cere, and the naked skin is continued on 

 the throat, and partially also on the face. The nos- 

 trils are at the brow of the bill, in the form of longi- 

 tudinal slits, and barely visible. The legs are stout, 

 the tarsi short, and rather inclined toward ends other. 

 The hind toes are turned inward, and included in the 

 web of the feet ; the outer toe is the longest and 

 strongest in the foot ; the claws are not large for the 

 size of the foot,and that on the middle tre i< looihed 

 on the edge. The wings ate of rather more thctn mean 

 length, and they arc rather pointed, the second quill 

 being the longest. They are not, however, formed 

 for whirling and turning rapidly in the air ; and the 

 rounded extremity of the tail further shows, that 

 whirling in the air is not one of the principal actions 

 of the bird. There are several species : 



P. carbo, the common cormorant, or great cormo- 

 rant. This species is common on the British shores, 

 and in some places it moves inland to the lakes which 

 are near the sea, or to the larger rivers, which have 

 long tideways. In these last situations, it is often 



