THE DUCKS, CORMORANTS AND GREBES. 1 87 



of the Cormorant. Jerdon states that these birds have 

 the power of inflating the gullet to enable them "to 

 swallow considerable sized fish," and their digestion 

 is "very rapid," to which may be added that they 

 have a healthy appetite. I imagine that, when the 

 Government takes the Indian fisheries in hand, as it 

 has done those at home, it will be found expedient to 

 exterminate the Cormorants. I hope that day is far 

 distant, however. A crowd of Cormorants after a 

 great shoal of little fishes affords a most exciting 

 spectacle. They hem the shoal in and drive it 

 towards the shore, diving and coming up and diving 

 again in breathless haste. All the white Egrets in the 

 neighbourhood come down to share in the fun and run 

 along the edge of the water, plucking out any shiver- 

 ing refugee that comes within reach. So there is 

 black death behind and pale death in front, and the 

 massacre must be terrible. 



There are two other species of Cormorants, the Large 

 and the Lesser, as Jerdon calls them, but they are not 

 nearly so common. The Snake Bird (Plotus melano- 

 gaster), so called from its serpentine head and neck, is 

 more familiar. At a distance, sitting on a low tree, 

 with its wings held out to dry, it looks like a big Cor- 

 morant with the neck of a Heron fitted on to its shoul- 

 ders ; but at close quarters it is a very handsome bird. 

 Its plumage is peculiar, the feathers on the shoulders 

 especially being long and narrow, like the hackles of 

 a cock. Each feather is black or dark brown, with a 

 silvery border, or spotted with silvery white, and the 

 effect is very beautiful. When the snake-bird is 

 swimming it often lets the whole of its body sink un- 

 der the surface, so that nothing is visible except the 



