THE CORMORANT. Atl 
assumed until the bird has reached full age. The head and neck of the full- 
grown bird are buff, the primaries black, and the rest of the plumage white. 
The yearling bird is almost wholly black covered with streaks and triangular 
marks of greyish white. 
The total length of this 
bird is about thirty-four 
inches. 
THE common CORMORANT 
is well known for its voracious 
habits, its capacities of di- 
gestion having long become 
proverbial. 
This bird is common on all 
our rocky coasts, where it 
may be seen sitting on some 
projecting ledge, or diving * 
and swimming with great 
agility, and ever and anon 
returning to its resting-place 
on the rock. It is an admi- 
rable swimmer and a good 
diver, and chases fish with GANNET OR SOLAN GOOSE.—(Sula Bassanea.) 
equal perseverance and suc- 
cess, both qualities being needful to satisfy the wants of its ever-craving 
maw. 
The Cormorant can easily be tamed, and in China, where everything 
living or dead is utilized, the bird is employed for the purpose of catching 
fish. The Cormorants are regularly 
trained to the task, and go out with 
their master in a boat, where they sit 
quietly on the edge until they receive 
his orders. They then dash into the 
water, seize the fish in their beaks, and 
bring them to their owner. Should 
one of these birds pounce upon a fish 
too large for it to carry alone, one of 
its companions will come to its assist- 
ance, and the two together will take the 
fish and bring it to the boat. Some- 
times a Cormorant takes an idle fit, 
and swims playfully about instead of 
attending to its business, when it is 
recalled to a sense of duty by its 
master, who strikes the water with his 
oar and shouts at the bird, who ac- 
cepts the rebuke at once and dives 
after its prey. When the task iscom- 
pleted, the birds are allowed their 
share of fish. A detailed and interest- 
ing account of these birds may be CORMORANT.—(Graculus Carbo.) 
found in Mr. Fortune’s work on China. 
The nest of the Cormorant is made of a large mass of sticks, seaweed, and 
grass, an the eggs are from four to six in number, rather small in proportion 
to the dimensions of the parent bird, and of a curious chalky texture ex- 
ternally, varied with a pale greenish blue, 
