14 



CORMORANT— DIVER LOON. 



traveler ; but the island is, of course, most attractive when it is occu- 

 pied by Cormorants. There they sit arranged in rows or lines, on 

 the rocks, in the most picturesque positions, and all facing the sea. 

 Rarely can one be seen sitting apart from the rest. They usually 

 wear a stiff, statue-like appearance ; but sometimes each bird is 

 seen to move some part of the body, either the neck, wings, or tail. 

 The object of these movements doubtless is to dry their feathers. 

 After ten or fifteen minutes, they become quiet, merely basking in 

 the sun. On such occasions, each Cormorant seems to have a par- 

 ticular place which he always occupies. 



Cormorants walk with extreme difficulty. Some observers have 

 said that these birds can only walk when they support themselves 

 by their tails. This supposition has evidently arisen from the fact 

 that the tail portion of the Cormorant's body is stiff, like that of the 

 Woodpecker. Cormorants, when hanging by their short, round 

 claws at the entrances to crevices or hollows in rocks, support them- 

 selves by their tails as Woodpeckers do. The walk of Cormorants 

 is a mere waddling, and yet they make more rapid progress than 

 an observer would at first sight suppose. They are not made for 

 locomotion on land ; but in swimming and diving they are experts. 

 When a boat approaches their resting-place, they stretch out their 

 necks, take a few irregular steps, and turn as if for a general flight ; 

 but only a few take to flying, bravely flapping their wings for a 

 short time. These maneuvers are followed by a regular sail in the 

 air; while others fly round in circles, rising higher and higher like 

 the Hawk or Kite. The majority, however, do not take to the wing 

 at all, but let themselves down into the water, head foremost, like 

 frogs, diving and rising at a great distance off. Then, looking for 

 a moment at the boat with their green eyes, they dive and rise 

 again, and so keep doing till they reach a place of safety. 



There is probably no bird that can surpass the Cormorant in 

 diving and swimming under water. Frequent trials have been made 

 to get ahead of them with a light boat or canoe ; but the practiced 

 oarsman, though exerting himself to the utmost, could make only 

 half the distance on the surface that the Cormorants made in the 

 same time under water. They dive to great depths, and re- 

 main a long time under water ; then coming up to the surface, they 

 hastily draw in a fresh supply of air and dive again. When pur- 

 suing their prey in the water, they stretch themselves out and 

 swim with sturdy strokes, pushing themselves through the water 

 with an arrow-like velocity. 



It may be reasonably inferred from the penetrating green eyes 

 of Cormorants that their sense of vision is well developed. Their 

 hearing is also acute, and they do not lack the sense of feeling. 

 But they are too voracious to possess much discrimination in the 

 sense of taste. It is true they feed on one kind of fish more than 

 on any other ; but this preference is probably not so much due to 

 their taste, as to the fact that such fish are more easily caught than 

 others. The fish alluded to is the so-called alewife, a kind of her- 

 ring, found in great numbers, swimming near the surface. Cor- 

 morants are shy and distrustful. Toward other birds, with whom 

 they come in contact, their behavior is that of tricksters and ras- 

 cals. 



The Chinese train Cormorants for fishing. The young intended 

 for this use are hatched by domesticated hens. The following is 

 the mode of fishing with Cormorants : The fisherman employs a 

 raft from fifteen to twenty feet in length, and from two and a half 

 to three feet in width, made of bamboo, and furnished with an oar 

 and rudder. Arriving on the fishing ground, he drives the Cor- 

 morants from the raft into the water, and they all dive at once. As 

 soon as a Cormorant has caught a fish, rising with it to the sur- 

 face, he swims toward the raft, merely with the intention of swal- 

 lowing the fish. He is prevented by a brass ring or string around 

 his neck from accomplishing this feat. The fisherman hurries to- 

 ward the bird, throws a net over him, drags him to the raft, and 

 secures the fish. He then sends the Cormorant back into the water 

 for more booty. 



In the interior of a country, Cormorants in a very short time 



destroy all the fish in the lakes and rivers. Their voracity exceeds 

 comprehension. A single Cormorant devours daily from sixteen 

 to twenty good-sized herring. They catch, it is said, young 

 aquatic birds, Ducks, Coots, Rails, etc. The writer has found in 

 a Cormorant's stomach the remains of a young Gallinula. 



Cormorants prefer trees for nest-building, but also make use of 

 hollows in rocks. Their nests are formed of a few dry rushes, 

 fibrous roots, etc. Crows and Herons are often expelled from their 

 nests by Cormorants, who appropriate the nests to their own use. 

 Toward the close of April, the female Cormorant lays three or four 

 bluish green eggs, of an oblong shape, and small in proportion to 

 the size of the bird. The male and female sit alternately on the 

 eggs, and usually hatch them out in about twenty-eight days. They 

 also take turns in feeding the young. These grow rapidly, and 

 are well taken care of by their parents, who, however, do not try 

 to defend them, at least not against man. On arriving at the nest 

 from a fishing excursion, the parent birds empty their crops and 

 stomachs, which sometimes contain several dozen small fishes. 

 Many of these fall over the border of the nest to the ground ; but 

 the Cormorants never take the trouble to pick them up. Toward 

 the middle of June the young are able to fly, and the old birds be- 

 gin raising a second brood. The flesh of Cormorants is not gener- 

 ally considered fit for food ; but Laplanders and other northern 

 people pronounce it delicious. 



The Double-crested Cormorant. (Phalacrocorax dilophus.) 



Fig. 2. 



This bird is represented on the plate in its summer plumage, 

 having two elongated tufts of feathers behind each eye. It inhab- 

 its all parts of this country from Maryland to Labrador, but in no 

 way differs from other Cormorants. The specimen that served for 

 the drawing, was shot in the ' ' Licking Reservoir," heretofore re- 

 ferred to, among a flock of the common Cormorants {Phalacro- 

 corax Car do). 



PLATE XIV. 



The Great Northern Diver Loon. (Colymbus facialis.) 



Fig. i. 



The great Northern Diver, Loon, or Stutter, as this bird is called 

 in northern Europe, is a regular sea-bird, living on the coast, but 

 frequenting large fresh-water lakes and ponds in the interior for the 

 purpose of breeding. These birds, on their migration southward, 

 late in the fall, and on their return northward, in April or May, 

 visit our rivers and mill-ponds. They are very shy, wary, and 

 difficult to kill, eluding the sportsman by their astonishing dexterity 

 in diving and swimming under water, even against the current. 

 They can remain a good while beneath the surface, often six or 

 eight minutes at a time, and swim long distances with incredible 

 rapidity, and without any apparent exertion. They sometimes lie 

 flat on the surface of the water, or sink themselves in it, so that 

 only a small portion of their backs and their heads and necks can 

 be seen. They sometimes swim in a slow, quiet way. Their 

 diving is accomplished without making any noise, or any commotion 

 in the water, by stretching themselves up, bending the neck in a 

 curve forward, and then plunging down. Under water they stretch 

 out to their full length, press wings and feathers close to the body, 

 and, moving their feet only, shoot onward like an arrow through 

 the water. Sometimes they swim in one direction, and then in an- 

 other ; sometimes just beneath the surface, and then at a depth of 

 several fathoms. They swim or race with fish, their usual food, 

 and catch them while swimming. From the very first day of their 

 lives, they swim and dive, and seem to feel safer in water than 

 when flying high in the air. 



