WATER FOWL. 373 



top of the water, and pressing the fish lightly with 

 their bills, 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, one after another, vomit up all 

 their fish, a little bruised with the first nip given 

 in catching them. When they have done fishing, 

 setting the birds on some high place, they loose 

 the string from their necks, leaving the passage to 

 the stomach free and open ; and, for their reward, 

 they throw them part of their prey ; to each, one 

 or two fishes, which they will catch most dexte- 

 rously as they are falling in the air." 



At present, the cormorant is trained up in every 

 part of China for the same purpose, where there 

 are many lakes and canals. " To this end," says 

 Le Compte, " they are educated as men rear up 

 spaniels or hawks ; and one man can easily man- 

 age a hundred. The fisher carries them out into 

 the lake, perched on the gunnel of his boat, where 

 they continue tranquil, and expecting his orders 

 with patience. When arrived at the proper place, 

 at the first signal given each flies a different way, 

 to fulfil the task assigned it. It is very pleasant, 

 on this occasion, to behold with what sagacity they 

 portion out the lake or the canal where they are 

 upon duty. They hunt about, they plunge, they 

 rise a hundred times to the surface, until they 

 have at last found their prey. They then seize it 

 with their beak by the middle, and carry it with- 

 out fail to their master. When the fish is too 

 large, they then give each other mutual assistance; 

 one seizes it by the head, the other by the tail, 



