2 On Cormorant Fishing in Japan. 
a bright moonlight night, said to be a bad night for fishing, a 
cloudy or dull evening being preferred, as the fish were then not so 
active. The river consisted of two branches, running very swiftly, 
and each from twenty to fifty yards wide, but in flood-time it 
extended over a space of 200 yards or more, running between high 
bluffs. The man with his bird was waiting for us on the stony 
bed of the river, with his torch of pine-fat burning brightly. The 
bird (Phalacrocorax sp.) was very tame, and sat perched on a 
rock close by. A cord was tied pretty tightly around the lower 
part of the throat and between the shoulders, from which was 
attached a piece of bamboo (having a swivel at each end), long 
enough to extend beyond the bird’s wings and prevent fouling of 
the cord while the bird was in the water. The man carried a bas- 
ket at his side to put the fish in, and a sort of apron in front to 
hold pine chips for the light. The lantern was a wire cage or bas- 
ket placed on the end of a long bamboo pole. This, with the cord 
attached to the bird, which gives him a range of about twenty feet, 
is held in the left hand, the right being employed in guiding the 
bird, replenishing the fire and taking the fish. 
Everything being ready, the fisherman takes the torch in his 
left hand, and clasping the cord, to which the bird is attached, 
wades out into the stream, the bird following him and, after per- 
forming a hasty toilet, dipping his head and neck in the water and 
preening himself, begins the business of the night. The fisherman 
holds the fire directly in front and above the bird’s head, so that it 
can see the fish in the clear water. The bird seems to be perfectly 
fearless, and as he comes up sparks of fire are constantly falling on 
his head and back. 
The fishing is done up-stream, the man finding it all he could 
do to keep pace with the bird as the water surges up nearly to his 
thighs; in fact it was hard work for us on shore to scramble along 
among the rocks in the uncertain light and watch the bird at the 
same time, 
The bird dives, swims under water for- on or ten yards, 
comes up and is down again, working very rapidly and constantly 
taking fish. When the fishes are small the bird is allowed to retain 
two or three in his throat at a time, but a fair-sized = is imme- 
diately taken from him and put into the basket. 
During a space of half an hour fifteen fishes were oe which 
was pronounced a good catch considering the brightness of the 
