30 ANIMAL LIFE UNDER WATER 



in length, a grilse weighing 3 lb. 2 oz., and six 

 trout weighing 2 lb. 4 oz. 



The question naturally arises : How does this 

 bird manage to catch all the fish required to 

 satisfy its enormous appetite with such ease 

 that it is able to spend most of its time 

 perched, as a sentinel, upon some lonely rock 

 or tree? 



I would suggest that fish are attracted to 

 the bird by the " flash " from the black, glossy 

 lustre of its plumage. The extent of "flash" 

 from a glossy-plumaged bird has already been 

 illustrated in the introductory chapter. The 

 " flash " from the cormorant is again shown on 

 the opposite page. A single illustration, how- 

 ever, does not by any means give a true idea of 

 the " flash " from a diver. In the photograph 

 the light is upon the neck and shoulders, but, as 

 the active bird twists and turns, at the next 

 moment the neck and shoulders may be invisible 

 and a " flash " appear from the head and tail. 



In this manner, as the cormorant races 

 through the water, bright streaks of light travel 

 along the head, neck and body, and flash at 

 different points. These flashes resemble the 

 turning movements of shoaling fish, and the 



