484 THE CKESTED CORMORANT AND THE PELICAN. 



tiug on some projecting ledge, or diving and swimming with great agility, 

 and ever and anon returning to its resting-place on the rock. It is an 

 admirable swimmer and a good diver, and chases fish with equal perse- 

 verance and success, both qualities being needful to satisfy the wants 

 of its ever-craving maw. 



The Cormorant can easily be tamed, and in China, where everything, 

 living or dead, is utilized, the bird is employed for the purpose of catch- 

 ing fish. The Cormorants are regularly trained to the task, and go out 

 with their master in a boat, where they sit quietly on the edge until they 

 receive his orders. They then dash into the water, seize the fish in their 

 beaks, and bring them to their owner. Should one of these birds pounce 

 upon a fish too large for it to carry alone, one of its companions will 

 come to its assistance, and the two together will take the fish and bring 

 it to the boat. Sometimes a Cormorant takes an idle fit and swims 

 playfully about instead of attending to its business, when it is recalled 

 to a sense of duty by its master, who strikes the water with his oar and 

 shouts at the bird, who accepts the rebuke at once and dives after its 

 prey. When the task is completed the birds are allowed their share 

 of fish. A detailed and interesting account of these birds may be found 

 in Mr. Fortune's work on China. 



The nest of th^ Cormorant is made of a large mass of sticks, seaweed, 

 and grass, and the eggs are from four to six in number, rather small in 

 proportion to the dimensions of the parent bird, and of a curious chalky 

 texture externally, varied with a pale greenish blue. 



Another well-known British species of this genus is the Crested 

 Cormorant, Green Cormorant, or Shag, a bird which can at once 



be distinguished from the preceding spe- 

 cies by the green color of the plumage 

 and the diflTerence in size, the length of 

 an adult male being only twenty-seven 

 inches. In habits this species resembles 

 the common Cormorant. 



We now arrive at the well-know'u 

 Pelican, which is universally accepted 

 as the type of the family. This bird is 

 found spread over many portions of Af- 

 rica and Asia, and also in some parts of 

 Southern Europe. 



The pouch of the Pelican is enor- 

 mously large, capable of containing two 

 The Pelican {Pelecanus ono- gallons of water, and is employed by the 



bird as a basket wherein to carry the fish 

 which it has caught. The Pelican is a good fisherman, hpvering 

 above the water watching for a shoal of fish near the surface. Down 



