COMMON CORMORANT. 79 



rumps, and dress their feathers with it. It is only 

 in one particular state that this oily matter can be 

 spread on them, when they are somewhat damp, and 

 the instinct of the birds teaches them the proper 

 moment. 



Cormorants were formerly trained in this country 

 for the purpose of catching fish. They were kept 

 with great care in the houses ; and when taken out 

 for fishing they had a leather thong placed round 

 their necks to prevent them from swallowing their 

 prey : they were also hooded till brought to the 

 water's edge. On this subject Willoughby says — 

 " When they come to the rivers they take off their 

 hoods, and having tied a leather thong round the 

 lower part of their necks, that they may not swallow 

 down the fish they catch, they throw them into the 

 river. They presently dive under water, and there 

 for a time, with wonderful swiftness, they pursue the 

 fish, and when they have caught them, they rise 

 presently to the top of the water, and pressing the 

 fish lightly with their bills, they swallow them, till 

 each bird hath in this manner swallowed five or six 

 fishes ; then their keepers call them to the fist, to 

 which they readily fly, and, little by little, one after 

 another, vomit up all their fish, a little bruised with 

 the nip they gave them in their bills. When they 

 have done fishing, getting the birds on some high 

 place, they loose the string from their neck, leaving 

 the passage to the stomach free and open ; and for 

 their reward they throw them part of the prey they 

 have caught, to each, perchance, one or two fishes, 



