274 BOMBAY DUCKS 
white, while in summer it becomes dark brown or 
black, 
We must, in conclusion, consider a fishing bird of 
a very different type. I refer to the little cormorant 
(Phalacrocorax javanicus). This fowl, if not found 
actually within the limits of Madras city, is plentiful 
enough on the Red Hills tank and other sheets of 
water, fresh or salt, in the neighbourhood. The little 
cormorant is a duck-like bird of which “ Eha” seems to 
entertain a very low opinion. “I dare say,” he writes, 
“it often passes for a sort of black duck, but it differs 
from a duck as a gentleman differs from a loafer. The 
cormorant is a thoroughly shabby bird, with a large 
ragged tail, and coloured all over a sordid black, like 
the Sunday coat of a Goanese cook.” 
Here I am obliged to respectfully differ from “ Eha.” 
I consider the little cormorant a handsome bird, and as 
a swimmer or a diver it has no equal. It has the power 
of suddenly changing its specific gravity. One moment 
the bird is floating, cork-like, on the surface of the 
water, the next it is sinking like a stone. I once saw 
a wounded cormorant give three determined men half 
an hour’s chase in water less than three feet deep. 
The bird had been shot to provide for the “inner 
men” of our boat coolies, so they rushed eagerly to 
seize their booty, but the bird, although wounded, had 
no intention of surrendering. Whenever a pursuer 
drew near, the cormorant dived and, thirty seconds or 
so later, reappeared at a distance of several yards. 
That cormorant must have dived thirty times before it 
was secured, 
