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Nor is the cormorant without his beauty. 



His eager, fteady, determined flight his 



plunging into the waters his wild look, 



as if confcious of guilt — his buftle on being 

 alarmed : fhakin? the moifture from his fea- 

 thers, and dalhing about, till he get fairly dif- 

 engaged, are all amufmg circumftances in his 

 hiftory. But he is a mercilefs villain \ fup- 

 pofed by naturalifts to be furnifhed with a 

 greater variety of predatory arts, than any bird 

 that inhabits the waters. When the tide re- 

 tires, he wings his ardent flight with flirong 

 pinions, and out- ftr etched neck, along the 

 fhores of the deferted river ; with all the chan- 

 nels, and currents of which he is better ac- 

 quainted, than the mariner with his chart. 

 Here he commits infinite fpoil. Or, if he find 

 his prey lefs plentiful in the fhallows, he is at 

 no lofs in deeper water. He dives to the bot- 

 tom, and vifits the eel in her retirement, of 



all others his favourite morfel*. In vain 



the fowler eyes him from the bank ; and takes 

 his ftand behind the bufh. The cormorant. 



* See other parts of his hiftory, page 172. 



quicker- 



