AVES-CORMORANT. 675 



rowing the included space, till the fishes are driven within a narrow com- 

 pass. They then all plunge into the water at once, on a given signal, fill 

 their pouches with the spoil, and then return to the land, to enjoy themselves 

 at leisure. 



Their life is spent between sleeping and eating. The female makes no 

 preparation for her nest, nor seems to choose any place in preference to lay 

 in, but drops her eggs on the bare ground, to the number of five or six, and 

 there continues to hatch them. Her little progeny, however, seem to call 

 forth some maternal affections ; for its young have been taken and tied by the 

 leg to a post, and the parent bird has been observed for several days to come 

 and feed them ; remaining with them the greater part of the day, and spend- 

 ing the night on a branch of a tree that hung over them. By these means 

 they become so familiar that they suffered themselves to be handled ; and 

 they very readily accepted whatever fish was given to them. These they 

 always put first into their pouch, and then swallowed them at leisure. 



THE CORMORANT, OR CORVORANT,i 



Is about the size of a large Muscovy duck. The head and neck of this bird 

 are of a sooty blackness, and the body thick and heavy, more inclining in 

 figure to that of the goose, than the gull. As soon as the winter approaches, 

 they are seen dispersed along the seashore, and ascending up the mouths of 

 fresh water rivers, carrying destruction to all the finny tribe. They are 

 most remarkably voracious, and have a most sudden digestion. Their appe- 

 tite is forever craving, and never satisfied. This gnawing sensation may 

 probably be increased by the great quantity of small worms that fill their 

 intestines, and which their increasing gluttony contributes to engender. 



This bird has the most rank and disagreeable smell, and is more foetid 

 than even carrion, when in its most healthful state. It is seen as well by 

 land as sea; it fishes in fresh water lakes as well as in the depths of the 

 ocean ; it builds in the cliffs of rocks, as well as on trees ; and preys not 

 only in the daytime, but by night. 



Its indefatigable nature, and its great power in catching fish, were, proba- 

 bly, the motives that induced some nations to breed this bird up tame, for 

 the purpose of fishing. The description of their manner of fishing is thus 

 enlivened by Faber : 



" When they carry them out of the rooms where they are kept, to the fish 



1 Carbo cormoramis, Meyer. The genus Carbo has the bill middle-sized, or long, 

 straight, compressed ; upper mandible much bent at the tip, the lower compressed ; base 

 of the bill involved in a membrane which extends to the throat ; face and throat naked ; 

 nostrils basal, linear and concealed ; legs strong, short, situated far behind ; all the toes 

 included in a web, and the middle claw serrated. 



