THE CORMORANTS. 503 



Norwegian Skargard, the most so of the several species of 

 Phalacrocorax ; and is found, he says, from the Cattegat 

 to within the polar circle. Its habits are the same as 

 those of the cormorant, with which it not unfrequently 

 associates and breeds. In Denmark it is rare. 



The Mellan-Skarf, or Intermediate Skarf (P. medius, 

 Nilss.), is also included by the Professor in the Scandinavian 

 fauna. Its proper home is, he says, Holland, Denmark, 

 Pomerania, &c., and it rarely visits the peninsula. Other 

 Swedish naturalists, however, as also Kjserbolling, would 

 seem to doubt its existence as a species. 



The general name in Sweden for the cormorant (or other 

 bird of the tribe) is Hafs-Tj cider, or sea-capercali. In our 

 Skargard the fishermen called it the Al-Kraka, or eel-crow, 

 for the reason, probably, that it feeds greatly on eels. 



It is the popular belief in parts of Scandinavia, that the 

 cormorant, like the heron, has but a single straight intestine, 

 and that as soon as it has swallowed an eel, the fish 

 quickly makes its exit the other way. To guard there- 

 fore against this mishap occurring a second time, the bird, 

 like a sensible creature, when it again bolts the eel, places 

 its hind parts against a rock, thereby effectually insuring its 

 digestive organ fair play. 



We often hear of animals as well as bipeds having capa- 

 cious " swallows," but that of the Loon as the cormorant, 

 as well as the crested shag, is called in Norway exceeds, if 

 Pontoppidan is to be credited, anything on record. 



" These birds," he says, " are mighty expert at catching 

 fish, and dive, according to the fishermen, very deep, even 

 twenty to thirty fathoms, to fetch up all kinds of small fish, 

 of which one sometimes finds such a number in their craw 



