34 ANIMAL LIFE UNDER WATER 



the same time the bird expanded and elevated 

 the tail feathers and dropped the feet so as to" 

 check its onward rush. 



The tail feathers are remarkably strong and 

 most effective for this purpose. These stiff 

 feathers are also used as a prop when the bird 

 sits upon a rock in the erect position. 



When a cormorant has caught a fish too 

 large for it to swallow it is extremely persistent 

 in its endeavours to perform the impossible. I 

 have seen the bird twist a plaice round and round 

 for ten to fifteen minutes before it dropped it 

 in disgust. When I picked it up the flat fish 

 was dead, with holes all round its body made by 

 the powerful hook in the upper mandible of the 

 bird. 



There is no doubt the cormorant destroys a 

 large number of fish in this way over and above 

 those it actually devours. 



While I was in the Outer Hebrides I came 

 across an instance of a cormorant killing a cod- 

 ling half its own weight. This, of course, was 

 quite useless to the bird. 



Though the cormorant undoubtedly takes a 

 large number of edible fish in the sea, it is when 

 the bird visits inland waters and rivers that it 



