32 ANIMAL LIFE UNDER WATER 



the rapid-swimming cormorant has seized his 

 prey across the middle. The bird then comes 

 up to the surface, and the fish is turned and 

 swallowed head first. 



I do not suggest that the cormorant puts his 

 head under in order to " flash" ; he does it so 

 as to see below the surface. Incidentally the 

 " flash" attracts the prey to the bird. 



In 1913 I watched a cormorant in Port Erin 

 harbour behave in the manner I have described. 

 Pollack were in the bay. I had fished for an 

 hour, but never touched a fin ; the bird came up 

 five times with a nice fish. The fifth was a 

 ; pollack of at least a pound in weight; this the 

 bird found difficult to swallow, and for a time 

 swam about with the tail of the fish sticking out 

 of his mouth. 



The cormorant then indulged in certain 

 antics which it was hard to follow from the 

 distance, but I have seen my own captive 

 cormorant in the same difficulty, and have 

 watched these movements at close quarters. 

 First, the bird commenced to tread water 

 rapidly, with the result that the body was raised 

 well above the surface. The neck was then 

 straightened and the upper portion arched, so 



