CORMORANT 219 



to catch fish for his keeper. He is most frequently met with on the 

 sea and seashore, but is an inhabitant of inland waters as well, 

 and sometimes breeds beside them, making his nest on the ground 

 or in a tree. He feeds exclusively on fishes and eels, which he 

 captures by diving and pursuing them under water, sometimes for 

 considerable distances. The bird is proverbial for its voracity. Its 

 * swallow ' is probably the largest of any bird of its size a fish 

 fourteen inches long has been taken from its gullet. When swim- 

 ming he presents a curious appearance : his body, as if too heavy for 

 the element it floats in, sinks like a waterlogged boat, until the 

 flat back is on a level with the surface. When alarmed, he sinks 

 his body deeper and deeper at will, until the head and long neck 

 alone appear, looking like the head and neck of a serpent swimming 

 with body submerged. When resting on a rock after feeding cormo- 

 rants stand very erect and motionless, their long, hooked beaks much 

 raised, and at such tunes they present a heavy, ungainly appearance. 

 They are fond of opening their wings out to their greatest extent to 

 dry their feathers, and remain for a long time in this attitude, look- 

 ing like birds with spread wings carved out of black stone. The 

 cormorant watches the water at times from a rock, and dives after 

 its prey ; but it more often swims, when fishing, with head and neck 

 submerged. When taking wing it rises heavily and with great 

 labour, but when once fairly launched the flight is powerful. Cor- 

 morants are gregarious and social birds at all seasons, and, like 

 gulls and herons, they breed hi communities. Very early in spring, 

 or shortly after the winter solstice, the bird's nuptial ornaments a 

 crest on the head and a white patch on the thigh begin to appear ; 

 both crest and white mark disappear at the end of the breeding 

 season. The same nesting-place is resorted to year after year, as 

 in the case of most species that breed in communities. The summit 

 of a crag not easily accessible, or a ledge of rock on a cliff fronting 

 the sea, or a rocky island, are favourite sites. Here the birds, some- 

 times in hundreds, live together hi the greatest harmony, building 

 their nests close together, in some cases almost touching. The nest 

 is pyramidal in form, built up from the rock to a height of from six 

 or seven inches to a couple of feet, and is composed of sticks, coarse 

 grass, and seaweed. Three to five eggs are laid, very small for the 

 bird's size, narrow and long in shape, of a pale greenish blue colour, 

 overlaid with a thick coat of a chalky substance. This substance 

 is quite soft when the egg is first laid ; it is then white, but soon 

 hardens, and becomes stained, in the always wet and filthy nest, to 



