Cormonmt-fishin^ in China. 



The Chinese Cormorant is of a blackish brown on the upper part of its body, the lower parts are whitish, 

 spotted with brown, and the throat is white. The plate represents the manner in which the fishing is 

 managed on the lakes and canals of China, and the process is explained in the following extract from Le 

 Comte, an old French writer: — " To this end Cormorants are educated as men rear up spaniels or hawks; 

 and one man can easily manage a hundred. The fisher carries them out into the lake, perched on the gun- 

 ivhale of his boat, where they continue tranquil, and expecting his orders with patience. When arrived at 

 the proper place, at the first signal given, each flies a different way, to fulfil the task assigned it. It is very 

 pleasant, on this occasion, to behold with what sagacity they portion out the lake or the canal, where they are 

 upon duty, they hunt about, they plunge, they rise a hundred times to the surface, until they have at last 

 found their prey. They then seize it with their beak by the middle, and carry it without fail to their 

 master. When the fish is too large, they then give each other mutual assistance : one seizes it by the head, 

 the other by the tail, and in this manner carry it to the boat together. There the boatman stretches out 

 one of his long oars, on which they perch, and being delivered of their burden they then fly off to pursue 

 their sport. Whou they are wearied he lets them rest; but they are never fed till their work is over. 

 f315) 



