BRITISH BIRDS, 365 



the stiff feathers of the tail; and in places where 

 they have not experienced the fatal effects of the 

 gun, they have been known, however wary at other 

 times, to sit and receive repeated shots, without 

 offering to remove out of the danger.* At other 

 times and places, while they sit in a dozing and 

 stupified state, from the effects of one of their 

 customary surfeits, they may easily be taken by 

 throwing nets over them, or by putting a noose 

 around their necks, which they avoid no further 

 than by slipping the head from side to side as long 

 as they can. 



Notwithstanding the natural wildness of their 

 disposition, it seems, according to some accounts, 

 that certain species of these birds have formerly 

 been tamed and rendered subservient to the pur- 

 poses of man, both in this and in other countries. 

 Among the Chinese, it is said, they have frequently 

 been trained to fish, and that some fishermen keep 

 many of them for that purpose, by which they gain 

 a livelihood. "A ring, placed round the neck, 

 hinders the bird from swallowing; its natural appe- 

 tite joins with the will of its master, and it instantly 

 dives at the word of command; when unable to 



* Dr. Heysham relates, that about the yea/ 1759, one of these 

 birds "perched upon the castle at Carlisle, and soon afterwards 

 removed to the cathedral, where it was shot at upwards of twenty 

 times without effect: at length a person got upon the cathedral, 

 fired at, and killed it." " In another instance, a flock of fifteen or 

 twenty perched, at the dusk of the evening, in a tree on the banks 

 of the river Esk, near Netherby, the seat of Sir James Graham. A 

 person who saw them settle, fired at random at them in the dark six 

 or seven times, without either killing any or frightening them away : 

 surprised at this, he came again, at daylight, and killed one; where- 

 upon the rest took flight." 



