CORMORANTS AND ANGLERS 



and having tied a leather thong round the lower part 

 of their (the cormorants') neck, that they may not 

 swallow the fish they catch, they throw them into the 

 river." Each cormorant captured, according to Wil- 

 lughby, five or six fish, which were one after another 

 vomited up " a little bruised." Then, the string being 

 loosed from the birds' necks, leaving the passage to 

 the stomach open, ''for their reward" each cormorant 

 was fed with a fish or two, dexterously caught by the 

 expectant creatures. The Chinese follow much the 

 same practice, and pass a ring round the throats of 

 their cormorants to prevent the fish taken being 

 irretrievably swallowed. 



" As greedy as a cormorant " is a well-known expres- 

 sion. I once heard from a brother angler in Norway 

 an excellent story — a true one — concerning a too pre- 

 daceous fisherman. He was a country curate and a 

 very keen fly-fisher. For some time he had had his 

 eye upon a fine piece of water, strictly preserved by a 

 neighbouring squire. In due season the squire gave 

 him a day's fishing, and the curate, rising very early, 

 made a great — an abnormal — bag. Unhappily for him, 

 a keeper chanced to get a sight of the catch, and 

 reported it to the squire, who was furious. Time went 

 on, and a living in the gift of the said squire became 

 vacant. The curate, among others, applied for it. He 

 got but a postcard in reply, and on the card only these 

 words were written: "Sir, I would sooner give my 

 living to a cormorant ! " 



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