520 Pelicanidce. 



provided only the supply of fish is sufficient. In this county I 

 have an instance of one killed in 1856, on Mr. Heneage's water 

 at Lyneham, whence the Great Northern Diver was obtained ; 

 and another (as I learned from a paragraph in the newspaper) 

 was killed at Bradford-on-Avon, in September, 1859. Lord 

 Arundell reports one killed at Wardour Castle about twenty years 

 ago : and Mr. W. Wyndham that one was shot at Lower Teffont ; 

 Lord Nelson possesses one killed at Trafalgar ; and Lord Methuen 

 says that one has been killed on the water at Corsham Court 

 and preserved. Lastly, the Rev. E. Goddard has just reported one 

 seen perched on the spire of Salisbury Cathedral this summer. 



The Rev. A. P. Morres reports that on one occasion three 

 Cormorants appeared in the water-meadows of the parish of 

 Britford, perched on some of the hatches ; and that the keeper 

 shot one of them, which proved to be a young bird in immature 

 plumage, but full grown. They were all busily employed in 

 fishing when he came upon them. Some years after Mr. Morres 

 saw a single bird in the same locality. Again on August 13th, 

 1885, an immature specimen was shot on the stream at Mere, 

 and about a week after two others were killed at Stourton, all 

 three proving to be young birds. The ponderous name plmli- 

 crocorax signifies the ' bald-headed raven,' from ^aXa/^/jo?, ' bald- 

 headed/ and /ropaf, ' a raven,' and carlo, ' a coal,' has reference 

 to the soot-black plumage of the bird. Amongst many provincial 

 names, ' Skart ' is that by which it is most generally known, 

 and ' Great ' or ' Black ' Cormorant to distinguish it from its only 

 congener. The word ' Cormorant ' is altogether a misnomer, for 

 it is literally corvus martntt*, a ' sea crow/ but very far indeed 

 is it removed from the Corvidse. In France it is Cormoran, and 

 Professor Skeat says that, though of Latin origin, it has probably 

 been modified in spelling by the Breton word Morfran, derived 

 from mor, 'the sea,' and bran, 'a crow.' So in Spain it is 

 Cuervo marino ; in Portugal, Corvo marinho ; in Italy, Corvo 

 aquatico, and also Mar anyone, ' the Carpenter,' I know not 

 why. But in Germany it is Der Schivarze Pellkan, and in 

 Sweden Stor Skarf, ' Great Skarf.' 



