BIRDS OF KANSAS. 41 



All the birds of this family are voracious eaters, and the craving 

 for food makes them active hunters, and they are successfully 

 used in many places by the fishermen, who tie a string around 

 their neck to prevent their swallowing the fish they catch. The 

 Chinese especially rear and train the birds upon their boats for 

 fishing, with great success. Le Comte says: "To this end they 

 are educated as men rear up spaniels or hawks, and one man 

 can easily manage a hundred. The fisher carries them out into 

 the lake, perched on the gunnel of the boat, where they con- 

 tinue tranquil, and expecting his order with patience. When 

 arrived at the proper place, at the first signal given each flies 

 a different way to fulfill the task assigned it. It is very pleas- 

 ant 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 an 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 without 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, and in this manner carry it to the boat together. There the 

 boatman stretches out one of his long oars, on which they perch, 

 and being delivered of their burden, they fly off to pursue their 

 sport. When they are wearied he lets them rest for a while; 

 but they are never fed till their work is over. In this manner 

 they supply a very plentiful table; but still their natural glut- 

 tony cannot be reclaimed even by education. They have always, 

 while they fish, the same string fastened around their throats 

 to prevent them from devouring their prey, as otherwise they 

 would at once satiate themselves and discontinue the pursuit the 

 moment they had filled their bellies." 



The birds breed in communities, and where the ground or 

 rocks will admit, their nests are placed close together. On the 

 last of July, 1880, I found the birds breeding in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, on the sides of the cliffs on Bonaventure Isle, and 

 on the top of Perce Kock. The latter cannot be climbed, and 

 nearly all the nests upon the isle were beyond reach; those ex- 

 amined, however, had young birds from half to nearly full 



