186 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 34, 1891. 



FISHING WITH TRAINED CORMORANTS 



By Captain F. S. Dugmorb. R. N. E., Master of the Falconry 

 Ciub 1878 to 1883. 



APOLOGIA.. 



IN the Chinese Empire, the training and the serious use 

 of the cormorant as a bread-winner constitutes an in- 

 dustry by itself, receiving the entire attention of a large 

 class of professional fishermen, to whom this bird is as 

 much a necessary implement of their calling as the gill- 

 uet is to the mullet-catchers of the Gulf of Mexico. 



In Earope, on the ether hand, for the last two hundred 

 years, the cormorant lias had little care bestowed upon it; 

 unless for its destruction by the owners of vahiable fish- 

 ing rights. A team of fishing cormorants has seldom if 

 ever been kept except as an adjunct, and a comparatively 

 unimportant adjunct, to a stud of trained hawks; attended 

 to only in the spare tuotnents of the master or his falcon- 

 ers, and very rarely used except when the weather, the 

 season or accidental circumstances made the infinitely 

 more exciting and absorbing sport of falconry out of the 

 question for the time being. 



It is rather strange tliat such should be the case; since, 

 while anything like real proficiency in the science of fal- 

 conry in its numerous branches imperatively demands 

 the study of a lifetime, the entire details connected with 

 the training of cormorants, and their use for fishing pur- 

 poses, are so simple and so easily acquired that any person 

 of ordinary intelligence and of a nature sympathetic 

 with the animal creation can master the whole thing in a 

 fortnight; with a little skilled guidance he can become a 

 proficient in less than a month. 



Moreover, while the maintenance of a falconry estab- 

 lishment is an exceedingly costly undertaking, a team of 

 trained cormorants is comparatively inexpensive. 



So that it would appear somewhat remarkable that 

 many lovers of sport and of animated nature whose 

 leisure or whose means have not permitted them to in- 

 dulge in the "noble art" of falconry, have not gone in 

 for the only less pleasurable excitement so easily obtain- 

 able from the "coursing of the waters," as coi-morant- 

 fishing has been not inaptly designated. 



It is more than thirty years since I began my own 

 apprenticeshij) to the art of falconry; and yet — though I 

 have lost no opportunity of picking the brains of such 

 experts as the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, Colonel Delme- 

 Radclifi:e, the Rev. Gage Earle Freeman ("Peregrine" of 

 the London Field), the late John Pells, falconer to the 

 Dukes of St. Albans; the late Robert Barr, falconer to the 

 Champagne Hawking Club, and his still more celebrated 

 brother, the late John Barr, for some years my own head 

 falconer; as well as of studying the methods of Greek and 

 Turkish falconers on the shores of the Sea of Marmora; 

 although, too, I have owned considerably over a thousand 

 hawks and falcons of all kinds, and have myself, unaided, 

 carried out the entire training of hundreds of them — yet, 

 I say, to this very moment I never meet and compare 

 notes with a brother falconer without discovering how 

 much I have yet to learn. 



It is vastly different with cormorants, John Barr and 

 I, between us, taught the late unfortunate Crown Prince 

 of Austria — a glorious sportman and a very apt pupil — 

 how to handle and use them for fishing in a couple of 

 days; while it took less than a week to impart all requi- 

 site instruction in their management to the Count von 

 Eltz, whom the Empress of Austria sent to Broughall 

 Castle (my then residence in Ireland) to receive over for 

 conveyance to Vienna a team of six trained cormorants 

 presented by me to Prince Radolph. 



Of course a practical falconer has a great advantage 

 over any other learner, from the habit, acquired by long 

 experience, of reading the thoughts, divining the inten- 

 tions, and thereby being able to anticipate the actions, of 

 his feathered intimates. But I will guarantee that any 

 sympathetic lover of nature, possessed of average intelli- 

 gence and patience, and of a reasonable amount of com- 

 mand over his temper, can, by following the plain direc- 

 tions I am about to furnish for his guidance, learn the 

 entire art of cormorant training in a fortnight, and 

 become a thorough proficient in taking fish with these 

 birds after less than a month's practice. 



The sport is one that is preeminently well adapted to 

 this continent. 

 It demands very little time and very little outlay. 

 There is scarcely a part of the American coast where 

 the birds for training cannot be cheaply procured with- 

 out the slightest difficulty; they are found even on most 

 inland waters of any great extent. 



There are very few places where coai'se or refuse fish 

 cannot be inexpensively obtained for their suijpnrt, a 

 great advantage over Europe, where I have had to feed 

 my birds on beef, mutton, horseflesh, bullock's liver, or 

 even rabbits, none of wbich are calculated to keep cor- 

 morants in good health for any length of time, while all 

 of them, excepting liver, which at best is only fit for a 

 makeshift, are rather expensive lUet for birds requiring 

 daily from 1 to 81bs. weigJit a head. 



Tnen in America there is such an enormotis extent and 

 such infiniie variety of practicable waters available for 

 fishing with cormorants, without interfering with vested 

 rights, or provoking fancied grievances. You have all the 

 grand estuaries of the Atlantic seaboard, with their in- 

 numerable creeks and ramifications, fishable to their very 

 heads wherever so much as a yard wide and two feet 

 deep; the clear rapid rivers of Florida, where not a move- 

 ment of the bh-ds or their quarry is hidden from the 

 sportsman; and in more mountainous States, bright 

 rushing brooklets and trout streams, far too small for 

 fly-fishing, but along whose banks the owner can run un- 

 obstructed, keeping up with his birds in their lightning- 

 like dashes and sub-aquean doubles after the speckled 

 beauties. Prejudice, and prejudice only, might for a 

 time interfere with their use, or, at least, render it inex- 

 pedient, in preserved trout waters, which should as a 

 rule be avo'ded. Unlike the Old World, with its artifi- 

 cialisms and conventionalities, prejtidice in this great 

 country is a very fleeting and temporary affair. Peojjle 

 like the Americans, accustomed keenly to sift every 

 statement that is put before them, never keep a long or a 

 close hold on a prejudice that has not good sound reason 

 at its back; and the cormorant- fisher would do well to 

 respect the prejudices of his brethren of the angle until 

 they shall have learned them to be utterly without 

 reason or justification j 



The destructive capabilities of cormorants, especially 

 ■when domesticated, are not quite what they are popularly 

 imagined to be, nor is the working capacity of a trained 

 bird by any means imlimited. i 



Against the current of a mountain brook— and our 

 com-se is always up stream — ten minutes' consecutive 

 work for each bird is more than enough, and will neces- 

 sitate not much under half an hour's cessation for rest 

 and drying; for, strange to say, and paradoxical as it 

 may appear, a cormorant cannot work under water when 

 once wet through. He requires to dry himsel E thoroughly 

 with many wing flappings in the sun and wind, after 

 which he will carefully dress his plumage over with oil 

 obtained from two glands just above the tail, by the 

 pressure of his powerful beak. 



Unlike the "trout hog" of the Adirondacks, trained 

 cormorants despise fingerlings, especially when anything 

 better is obtainable. Their sporting instincts seem to be 

 so strong that they will always single out the largest fish 

 within their powers — sometimes above them. 



Needless to say, there are no pricked fish to be returned 

 to the water, some to die, others to scare their fellows 

 with the tale of their narrow escape, which fish, like 

 ants, undotibtedly have some means of communicating 

 in a language of their own. 



All things considered, T have no hesitation in asserting 

 that preserved waters will be no more injured by cormor- 

 ant fishing, within reasonable limits, than by customary 

 legitimate angling, also within reasoirable limits; far less 

 than by the exploits of the Adirondack trout hog, as so 

 often chronicled in the charming pages of Forest and 

 Stream. 



The most rapid destruction I have myself ever accom- 

 plished with cormorants was twenty-two trout taken in 

 fifteen minutes by three i^irds. This was in a rough Irish 

 mountain stream flowing into the Shannon, averaging 

 scarcely more than 2ft. in width, and absolutely unfish- 

 able by ordin,ary methods. No one had ever succeeded 

 in rising a trout therein with a fly, and I never heard of 

 any good being done by the use of worms. The twenty- 

 two trout averaged about three to the pound, and there 

 was but one unsizeable fish in the basket, though I could 

 see numbers of small fry in the water. 



Fishing (by permission) a stretch of preserved water in 

 Oxfordshire, a fine basket of trout (some of which turned 

 the scale at 31bs.) caught by my birds contained not a 

 single fish under a pound in weight, though . the pool, 

 generally kept artificially closed at both ends, was noted 

 as a breeding place. In fact no one had any idea that 

 this water contained fish so large as those taken out of it 

 by my cormorants; sreatly to the advantage, I imagine, 

 of their smaller comrades and customary prey. But in 

 so large and variotts-featured a country as' America, 

 there can be no excuse for (uninvited) encroachment by 

 the cormorant trainer on the domain of the fly-fisher. 



I am myself personally acquainted with innumerable 

 lakes, tarns and mountain brooks in Wales, Scotland, 

 Ireland, Switzerland and Canada on which no one within 

 the memory of man has ever succeeded in getting a rise, 

 and on some of which trolling tactics have been scarcely 

 better rewarded. 



Traveled Americans will doubtless remember a lovely 

 clear blue-green river — I have often vainly flogged it — 

 near Cannes in Provence, teeming with fish which are 

 never caught by other means than netting; and many of 

 the tempting looking streams of northern Italy are s'imi- 

 lary circumstanced. 



Conditions approximately identical prevail in many 

 parts of the United States, as indeed in nearly all parts 

 of the world. I have found them in Asia Minor, and far 

 in the interior of Africa, north and sotith. 



A rod and line are useless in a mountain rivulet a foot 

 wide, and not much better in the long narrow creeks up 

 which the gray mullet love to run in close-packed silvery 

 shoals from the grand estuaries of the coast. 



But these same foot-wide rivulets and ditch-like creeks 

 afford the very best opportunities for the cormorant 

 trainer without interfering in the slightest with other 

 people's sport. (There are some splendidly stocked creeks 

 running into Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor, in 

 Florida.) Here, then, I would advise the cormorant 

 fisher mainly to seek fresh worlds to conquer, fields 

 wherein to exercise the prowess of his feathered friends 

 "with a clear conscience, void of offense." I would 

 counsel him to follow my own practice of eschewing 

 waters, even unpreserved, that are frequented by 

 brethren of the angle, unless on exceptional occasions 

 when their owners desu'e to see an exhibition of his 

 birds' attainments. Readers of Forest and STREAM need 

 no reminder from me that "live and let live" should be 

 the first maxim of every true sportsman, no matter what 

 may be the particular branch of sport that claims his own 

 individtaal sympathies. 



I will not occupy my reader's time with a long disqui- 

 sition on the natural history or habits of the cormorant — 

 in a state of nature — thotigh I shall have much to say 

 about him in a state of grace, i. e., training, which 

 effects certain not inconsiderable changes in his entire 

 constitution. For his natural history any good ornitho- 

 logical work can be consulted. 



Round the British Isles we have two species of cormo- 

 rant, the shag, or green and crested cormorant {Pelecanus 

 cristat'us), a lovely little bird, and very docile, but too 

 small to take a Sbb of any size; and the common black 

 cormorant {Pelecanus carljo), which, however, varies 

 somewhat in form in different localities, being evidently 

 adapted by nature to the particular waters in which its 

 living has to be obtained. 



At one time I used to draw my supplies of young cor- 

 morants for training from Lul worth, near St. Alban's 

 Head in Dorset, In this district (the Isle of Purbeck, 

 famed for its marbles) the cliffs for the most part go down 

 sheer into the water, which is very deep close into the 

 shore. Consequently the local cormorants would starve 

 unless possessed of exceptional diving powers. I found 

 their conformation accordingly of a rather peculiar type: 

 long, slim, greyhound -like bodies, large feet, and very 

 long tails; the tail and feet constituting the bird's diving 

 apparatus, and having developed through long genera- 

 tions to suit its peculiar habitat. 



On the other hand, round the Fai-ne Islands off the 

 Northumberland coast, the sea is shallow, but little div- 

 ing is required, and the fish run very large. Accordingly, 

 a cormorant I procm-ed thence had an exceedingly short 

 tail, was of jaowerful thickset build, and weighed half as 

 much again as the Dorset birds. 



I imagine a similar rule holds good along the American 

 coast line. The cormorants I have seen about the Gulf 

 of Mexico, on the Florida shore, appear to be rather 

 smaller and weaker than the British black cormorant. 

 But I have seen larger birds off Labrador; and I little 



doubt that anywhere in the north, near Cape Cod for 

 example, much stronger and better specimens could be 

 procured; and be it remembered, that size is the most im- 

 portant requisite, since the larger the bird, the larger the 

 fish he can tackle. The largest fish I have ever known 

 one of my own cormorants to bring ashore, pouched, 

 weighed a little under three pottnds and a half. But my 

 big Northumbrian, aided by another bird, succeeded in 

 drowning and dragging f rom"the Thames — for he could not 

 lift or pouch it — a pike of over 5lbs., after a grand battle 

 royal, lasting fully a quarter of an hour. 



A few words as to the cormorant's methods of work 

 may not be superfluous. The pelican, gannet and booby 

 do their hunting in the air, only plunging into the water 

 to seize prey akeady found and marked. The cormorant 

 and razorbill {Alca torda) and sundry other diving birds, 

 do all their hunting under water. They plunge first, 

 before seeing their prey, seek it under water, and pursue 

 it under water ttntil caught, when they bring it to the 

 surface, and in the case of the cormorant, chuck it up 

 into the air in order to get it head downward into the 

 elastic neck pouch, preparatory to swallowing, or when a 

 trained bird is concerned, bringing it ashore. But while 

 the razorbill uses its wings and would be crippled with- 

 out them, as it literally flies under water, the cormorant 

 keeps his folded as tightly as possible to his sides, depend- 

 ing entirely on his feet as a propeller, twin-screw fashion, 

 and on his tail as a quick and powerful rudder. (Vide 

 illustration 1.). 



We take advantage of our knowledge of these facts 

 to cut one wing of a cormorant, greatly facilitating 

 its traininer, especially in the case of an old-caught 

 bird, and in no way interfering with its work: while we 

 avoid with the titmost care breaking so much as a single 

 feather of its tail, as the bird would thereby be heavily 

 handicapped in twisting and doubling under water, es- 

 pecially after a fish that succeeded in breaking back past 

 its pursuer when working up stream. 



[TO BE CONTINdED.] 



PERCH VERSUS TROUT. 



THE following series of questions about the relations 

 of predatory fishes like the perch to successful trout 

 rearing recurs so frequently in our correspondence that 

 we give the communication in detail with answers based 

 upon experience, and would be glad to receive expressions 

 of opinion and records of experiments in this direction 

 from others. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am about renting a small lake here, about 400yds. in 

 length- and from 80 to lOOyds. in width, for the purpose 

 of stocking it with speckled trout. Before doing so, how- 

 ever, I wish to obtain some reliable information on some 

 points, and have concluded that I could not do better than 

 make application to your pajjer in the form of questions, 

 which I think it almost certain either you or some of your 

 correspondents would be able to answer. 



The lake in question has a spring of cold water at the 

 upper end coming out of the rock, and for about 20yds. 

 that end of the lake is covered with stone and gravel, the 

 rest of the lake is mostly mud bottom. Up to about nine 

 years ago the lake was well stocked with speckled trout, 

 but was then nearly cleaned out by netting, and about 

 the same time some one put in perch, which have in- 

 creased enormously, as the lake abounds in food. For the 

 last four or five years not a single trout has been seen in 

 the lake, and my object in writing is to obtain, if possible, 

 the following information: 



1. Has the introduction of perch caused the extermina- 

 tion of the trout, or must we conclude that the trout 

 were exterminated either by netting or some other means 

 before the perch were put in? 



2. If the perch have exterminated the trout in what 

 way was it brought about ? Is it because the perch de- 

 vour the trout, or the trout spawn, or because the large 

 trout devour the young perch and the spines on the back 

 of the perch kill the trout ? 



3. Is it possible for trout and perch to live together in 

 the lake I have described? 



4. Is it advisable to exterminate the perch before at- 

 tempting to restock with trout ? 



5. Wliat is the readiest and most effectual method of 

 exterminating the perch? Is there any way of doing it? 



6. Are there any other varieties of fish besides bass and 

 pike that could live and hold their ground along with 

 perch ? 



7. Would salmon trout live and increase in numbers in. 

 the lake I have described? 



8. Wliat other variety of fish would you advise me to 

 put in along with perch in case trout will not live with 

 them? James P. Telford. 



The probability is that netting caused the extermina- 

 tion of the trout. We infer from your letter that the 

 trout was reproducing naturally in the lake at one time 

 and found suitable food. The spines of the perch will 

 not injure trout, for the latter swallows sticklebacks, 

 which have stouter pines than the perch. If the perch 

 have diminished the trout, they may have accomplished 

 this by taking their supply of food. Perch and trout live 

 in the same body of water, but the general opinion is that 

 they cannot be reared together successfully, because the 

 former is more prolific and spawns later, so that it devours 

 trout eggs during the whole spawning season. It is, 

 therefore, advisable to remove the perch before intro- 

 ducing trout if you can; but this will be difficult, to say 

 the least. Black bass have so thinned out the perch in 

 Sunapee Lake, New Hampshire, that they no longer in- 

 terfere with the brook trout, and the latter are increasing 

 rapidly; but many persons object seriously to placing 

 black bass in trout waters, because of their predatory 

 character. Rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris) and calico 

 bass {Pomoxys sparaides) will thrive in the company of 

 perch, and both of these are excellent game fishes and 

 accessible to you, Salmon trout might live in a small 

 lake stich as you describe if the water is very deep in 

 some places and cold enough, and they would dispose of 

 your perch in short order. Whatever fish of the salmon 

 family is deemed suitable should be represented by well- 

 grown individuals and not by fry, which the perch can 

 dispose of faster than you can furnish them. 



The Beardstown Rod and Gun Club sends us a ker- 

 chief invitation to their first annual fish fry, Sept. 35, 

 whiph proioises to he a most enjoyable affair. 



