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, ona given signal, fiil 
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 CORMORANTS or CORVORANT, 
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- 
lite 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 fetid 
than even carrion, when in its most healthful state. Itis 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. 
lts 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 cormoranus, Meyer. The genus Carbo has the bill middle-sized, or long, 
straight, compressed ; upper mandible much hent at the tip, the lower compressed ; base 
of the bill involved ina membrane which extends to the throat; face and throat naked 
nostrils basal, linear and concealed ; legs strong, short, situated far behind ; all the toes 
meluded in a web, and the middle claw serrated. 
