282 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[©CT. 13, 1891, 



FISHING WITH TRAINED CORMORANTS 



By Captain F. S. Dugmore. R. N. B., Master of the Falconry 

 OlTib 1878 to 1883. 



^Concluded from pa^e »^.] 



CHAP. VIII. — DAILY MANAGEMENT. 



WHEN all your cormorants have been tborouglily 

 trained, and have had say a week's constant 

 practice with plenty of good hick, the wearing of the 

 collar may be dropped except on jfishing days, when 

 it must be adjusted immediately after the morning 

 mouthful. 



If you keep them in a pen and there does not happen 

 to be among the lot a spiteful bird, a born anarchist or 

 agitator by nature, given to biting his fellows and to 

 making things generally disagreeable all round, no sub- 

 stitute for the collar will be necessary. But if you have 

 no convenient inclosure, or if you find any difficulty in 

 keeping it clean— a paved yard should be slushed down 

 every day — picket your birds by the legs on a grass plot, 

 using leather "jesses" fin. broad, somewhat similar to 

 those worn by trained hawks and falcons. 



The hawking jess pnre and simple (Figs. 3 and 4), ex. 



Figs. .3 and 4. 



cepting that it is cut straight, lightness being no object, 

 i8_ generally used; with a yard long cord, knotted or run- 

 ning-looped at one end, passing through a hole in each 

 jess, in lieu of "leash" and swivel (Fig. 7). But it has 

 one disadvantage; it cannot be quickly removed by gloved 

 fingers. 



Consequently I prefer an arrangement of my own (Figs. 

 5 and 6), the jess being used as a simple slip or running 



^ ^^^^ CORMORANT JESS .^ aifC,^^^^ patter™. 



"^^^^^Slip-Kvar -LEASH . 



Figs. 5, 6 and 7. 



noose, with a stop consisting of a sudden break in the 

 width of the leather to prevent its tightening close round 

 the leg. This can be slipped off in a moment without 

 any diflJiculty. 



Keeping your cormorants thus tethered by the leg to 

 ■ loops on the picketing rope, a whole team of eight to 

 twelve birds can be fed in five minutes instead of twenty, 

 which would be required if collars were habitually worn. 



To avoid destroying the grass, as well as for sanitary 

 reasoas, the picketing Une should be shifted every day, 

 or every alternate day at the very least. 'JVith regard to 

 feeding, once a week before a day of perfect rest, the birds 

 should have a "gorge" or full feed. On other days, when 

 fully grown and trained, they should get about a half 

 ieed in the afternoon, in addition to a mouthful or so in 

 the morning. 



Over-feeding, especially while the bird is wet, may 

 bring on indigestion; for the digestive organs of cormor- 

 ants are by no means so strong as would be imagined, 

 judging from their exuberantly healthy appetites. 



Underfeeding and overwork, together with too much 

 exposure to cold and wet, may bring on cramp of the 

 lower limbs, almost always ending in hopeless paralysis. 

 For indigestion, rhubarb and cayenne pepper or ijejjper 

 corns, concealed in a morsel of food, are the best reme- 

 dies. For cramp, cayenne, warm wraps and the kitchen 

 fire. 



Either malady, not attended to, will often prove fatal 

 within twenty-four hours; neither need ever occur wdth 

 reasonably careful management. 



For laziness and torpor, thirty drops of the second 

 homoeopathic solution of uux vomica on powdered white 

 sugar, repeated for several days an hour before feeding 

 (in the morning), may effect some improvement. 



The best possible cure for a trained cormorant that 

 appears to be seedy or out of sorts (of which drowsiness is 

 the first unmistakable symptom) is a recourse to Darue 

 Nature herself. 



Turn the bird loose for a couple of days, without collar, 

 into some small lake or pond containing more or less fish, 

 and leave it to take care of itself. 



When a sick bird is under treatment, the collar must 

 invariably be removed, lest it should impede vomiting and 

 cause apoplexy; as also at any time when a bird may be 

 observed trying to throw up a "casting" of fish bones" and 

 indigestible skin. 



After all the birds are perfectat their work, they should, 

 as a general rule, be used in couples or in threes; both 

 because emulation will prove a powerful incentive to ex- 

 ertion, and because they assist one another greatly under 

 water, the hindermost bird often striking at and captur- 

 ing a fish that has suddenly doubled back past his leading 

 comrade. (Illustration 1.) They work together just like 

 greyhounds at a coursing match. 



UittM quite perfect, it is better to work the learn all 

 together, so that backward birds may be stimulated by 

 the example of their companions, until all shall have 

 approximately attained a uniform standard of excel- 

 lence. 



To be capable of giving a good afternoon's sport, a work- 

 ing team of cormorants should not consist of less than six 

 good birds, to be used in relays of two at a time, the 

 remainder resting or drying themselves, A team of nine 

 can be worked with great advantage in relays of three. 

 To make quite sure, I prefer a minimum' strength of 

 eight; consequently, if nestlings are used, considering that 

 any losses cannot be made good until next breeding sea- 

 son, not less than twelve birds should be procured and 

 put in training. Once trained, any superfluous birds can 

 be kept in reserve without trouble. They never forget j 

 their training to such an extent that it cannot be com- - 

 pLetely recalled in a couple of d^ys, ' 



la ^ietriets where wild birds can be readily caugkti at 



any time, the total strength of the team may be fixed at 

 six; their capacity for work is usually much ahead of 

 nestlings. 



While these numbers are recommended as placing their 

 owner in a position to be certain of showing sport at any 

 time without risk of failure, I do not wish to dishearten 

 persons who may prefer to go in for the use of cormorants 

 on a much smaller scale, or only as an aid — and a very 

 material aid — to their housekeeping economies. In a 

 favorable locality, a couple of wild-caught cormorants, 

 while costing nothing for their own maintenance, will 

 amply suffice to keep a large family thoroughly well sup- 

 plied with fish, and that without occupying much of their 

 masters time: given fairly well-stocked waters, of which 

 there is assuredly no lack in America, the two birds will 

 provide daily more fish than a dozen people can consume. 



A couple of nestlings, if good ones, wiU do almost as 

 much; but the smaller the number of nestlings that are 

 put in training together, the less chance there is of any of 

 them turning out exceptionally well. As before ex- 

 plained, each bird assists in the education of his fellows. 

 So that it is well to train more than are required, after- 

 ward reducing the strength of the team by judicious 

 drafting. 



OHAP. IX.— THE PALANQUIN. 



We now come to the means of conveyance to and from 

 the fishing grounds that we intend working. If these are 

 close to home, the trainer and his friends can carry a cor- 

 morant apiece on the left arm, the right hand retaining, 

 as a rule, hold, or at least a light touch of the bird's head. 

 This, not only as a precaution to save the carrier's face 

 from possible damage, but to prevent the eager bird j ump- 

 ing off and hurrying prematurely to work directly the 

 water is sighted. 



If you have some distance to go by water, with a little 

 assistance the birds may possibly be kept tolerably quite 

 in your boat. But if an overland journey of a mile or so, 

 or perhaps a long drive, has to be performed, it is quite 

 another matter, and you must have recourse to a cormo- 

 rant palanquin. (See Fig. 8.) 



Fig. 8. 



This is a rectangular box or hamper, 3ft. Oin. in length 

 from '62 to 40in. in breadth, divided into either ?ix or 

 eight compartments running the entire length of the pal- 

 anquin and closed at each end by flap doors opening down- 

 ward. The compartments are in two tiers. 



The object of the door at each end is to allow of the 

 bird, which must have no room to turn round inside, being 

 both put in and taken out headforemost; this is indis- 

 pensable, to save the tailfrom being smashed. Loops are 

 arranged on the four upjjer corners of the palanquin, for 

 poles by which it is carried, and as a means of suspend- 

 ing it under the axles or buckboard of a wagon or buggy. 



If the palanquin is made of wood, each of the doors 

 must be pierced with several i-in. holes for ventilation. 



For the sake of lightness, strong basket-work is prefer- 

 able to wood. My own cormorant palanquin is made of 

 cane with a wooden floor to the upper tier. 



Wood or basket-woi-k, it must be thoroughly washed 

 out immediately after being used. 



The birds, each tempted in for the first time or tvro by 

 a tiny morsel of fish at the further end of its own com- 

 partment, should not be kept in the palanquin longer than 

 13 necessary; but as soon as practicable after arrival at the 

 scene of operations, should be tethered out by the collar 

 to the picketing-rope, a sjiady spot being selected in sum- 

 mer, a sunny and breezy place in cold or damp weather. 



CHAP. X. — L'ENVOI. 



In conclusion, I would add a few words of encourage- 

 ment to those of my readers who may be induced by 

 what I have written to take up seriously one of the most 

 charming, easy, and economical of outdoor amusfments; 

 one, moreover, with which it is in their power, if of un- 

 selfish disposition, to afford much pleasure to any num- 

 ber of friends and acquaintances, whom perhaps the 

 hustle and bustle of business leaves without leisure to 

 provide for themselves the active relaxation and un- 

 bending that, as a mental tonic, is so much more valu- 

 able than mere, dull, passive rest. 



They may go ahead in the full confidence that the art 

 is absolutely devoid of the element of uncertainty that 

 attaches to almost all other outdoor sports, such as fal- 

 conry, racing, gunning, angling or dog-breaking; in each 

 of which, at best, oeeasionrtZ success, alternating with, and 

 oft times spoiled by disappointment, can alone be reckoned 

 on with anything like certainty. 



The cormorant master is not dependent on a precisely 

 proper amount of ripple on the water, or of flying 

 clouds in the sky, without which tht holiday so long 

 anticipated by the fly-fisher may turn out a melancholy 

 blank. 



Given the fish, and given the trained cormorants, 'a 

 blank day is an impossibility. 



A muddy state of the water, or too large an expanse of 

 it, may deprive him of some of his pleasures, by conceal- 

 ing the beautiful evolutions and . ingenious maneuvers of 

 the birds, as with snake-like necks and prying eyes they 

 rapidly explore every hole in the bank, the dark recess 

 behind every clump of roots or group of boulders, while 

 traveling up against the river's current; but he can still 

 see each captured fish brought to the surface, adroitly 

 pouched, landed, and obediently surrendered; while he 

 enjoys the proud satisfaction of feeling and asserting 

 man's "dominion over the fowls of the air," not by their 

 wanton destruction, but hy rendering their marvellous 

 intelligence subservient to his own. It is sport, too, that 

 can be ta.ken up at one time and temporarily dropped at 

 another, to suit the convenience of the moment; and that 

 without loss. 



Unlike hawks, cormorants, when once perfectly trained 

 and well practiced, can be left idle for many months 

 without any peimanent deterioration whatever. After 

 being shut ui> in a yard for a year, and their food j 

 hurried ij llirpwii to them, t^vo or three days exercise will ' 



make thenaffs good as ever they were; though, of course, 

 where their owner has a small isolated lake at his disposal, 

 turning them loose thereon is a more satisfactory way of 

 keeping the birds through a period of idleness. 



It is quite possible to use cormorants all through their 

 moult, while scarcely advisable to choose that season to 

 recommence work with birds that have been long idle. 



Then it is a great comfort to feel that the cormorants 

 having no intrinsic value and being so easily replaced, 

 an accident such as the loss of a bird or two is not a mis- 

 fortune of any great consequence; so long as one good 

 bird is left, recruits will almost train themselves; more- 

 over, a disappointment about birds from the April breed- 

 ing places in the South can always be remedied up to the 

 end of June, or even July, by having recourse to the cliff s 

 of the far North. 



* 



* * 



I believe nothiiig is required beyond the advent of some 

 energetic propagandist who would add the performances 

 of a good fishing team tg the attractions of a camp-meet- 

 ing of the American Canoe Club, to enhst so many dis- 

 ciples that ere long cormorant fishing shall become a 

 national and popular recreation of the masses of the 

 American Commonwealth; so to remain long after the 

 present feverish multiplication and increasing perfection 

 of implements of destruction shall have deprived the 

 gunner of any game to shoot at excepting clav-pigeon?, 

 and shall have made field trials impracticable for the dog- 

 breaker; unless indeed the same clay-pigeons rubbed over 

 with red herring or aniseed, and sown promiscuously over 

 the competition grounds, can be utihzed to display the 

 attainments of his pointers and setters. 



The foregoing not very voluminous chapters do not, I 

 think, constitute much of a tax upon the understanding 

 or the memory of the tyro; and yet, as a very old cormo- 

 rant fisher, I can safely affirm that they contain all the 

 information than can possibly be required. No authori- 

 tative text-books on this art exist, so far as I know, in the 

 English (or American) languages. A French pamphlet, 

 written after perhaps half a dozen days or less out with 

 trained cormorants, by an ardent Parisian (literary) sports- 

 man and old friend of my own, whose trainer was 

 (previously) sent to me to be trained some seventeen years 

 ago. is, I believe, out of print; as is also a chapter or ap- 

 pendix to an excellent work on falconry by another old 

 friend of mine. Both are to me inaccessible at present, 

 my library being thousands of miles away. 

 . But an ounce of fact is proverbially worttua pound of 

 theory : couFequently the leanier may follow the fore- 

 going directions with the assurance that they do not con- 

 tain one single word of compilation or imagination, but 

 are drawn exclusively from my own personal experience; 

 and that 1 do not ask him to do anything that I have not 

 myself actually done. 



Once more counselling him to go and do likewise— only 

 more so— 1 now take my leave of him, with best wishes 

 for the signal success that, he may take my word for it, 

 is at his absolute command. 



[The writer has consented to reply to any requests for 

 further explanation that may be addressed to him (under 

 cover to our office) by actual learners,] 



MAINE WATERS. 



THE Maine trouting season closed exceedingly dull. 

 The number of trout taken in Maine waters was 

 probably smaller during the late August and all of Sep- 

 tember than for many years. Low water was doubtless 

 greater the cause of this ill-success to the rod and reel 

 fisherman than any other. No rain in the Maine woods 

 during the summer and none in September rendered the 

 streams and la^es remarkably low. Such conditions are 

 not favorable to trout fishing, especially when accom- 

 panied by weather abnormally hot. Indeed the latter 

 days of September and the first days of October were hot- 

 ter in the Maine woods than was the average for the same 

 number of days in July, Trout fishing was at a low ebb, 

 Not even the evenings and mornings were cripp and cool 

 as usual in the late September, conditions which bring 

 the trout up to the fly at that time of the year. No active 

 rising to the fly is reported from any of the Maine waters 

 this fall. This dry weather and remarkably low water 

 may also be productive of other results not favorable to 

 the fish, as well as the ruining of the fall trout fishing 

 this year. The trout have begun to seek the spawning 

 grounds as usual. But these spawning grounds are 

 not found where they should be, On the contrary, 

 the water has far receded from them and they are only 

 plats of dry gravel, in some instances, many rods from 

 water sufficient for the trout to breed in. Richardson 

 Lake, one of the Rangeleys noted for its noble trout, was 

 on Oct. 1 fully 18ft. below high water mark, and 14ft. 

 lower than it has been for the past 4 or 5 years at the 

 commencement of the season when the trout usually 

 seek the spawning grounds. The other lakes of the 

 Rangeley chain are nearly as badly off, as indeed are all 

 of the many trout lakes in Maine that are used for the 

 storage of watei- for the turning of mills below. What 

 is the result of this low water thus far? The trout are on 

 new spawning beds further down the mouths of the 

 streams they have usually ascended to spawn. Giant 

 trout might be seen on these beds on the last days of Sep- 

 tember. Considerable fly-casting was dbne over them by 

 excited sportsmen. But they did not rise to any con- 

 siderable extent. Mr. C. H. Johnson, of the Camp Stewart 

 party, took one on a mongrel fly, partly silver-doctor 

 and partly something else. The flsh weighed Gibs. ; a 

 male, with all the usual autumn markings of dark Ver- 

 million sides and greatly hooked under jaw. Had the 

 fish been plump, as in the spring time, it would have 

 weighed at least Tibs. There was nothing in the cavities 

 of the body. The fish had evidently eaten nothing for 

 weeks. *• 



What is to be the result of tliis low water at the 

 beginning of the spawning season? Later, and. before the 

 spawning season is over, the new spawning beds will be 

 under many feet of dark and probably roily waters. The 

 fall rains will doubtless bring up the lakes and streams to 

 the U5ual pitch. The little trout^ if hatched under such 

 conditions, will be in the very teeth of all the enemies 

 that nature has taught the parent trout to seek to avoid 

 for their progeny, by ascending the stfteameas far as pos- 

 sible to spawn . It does no look as though the trout breed- 

 ing season of 1891 could be much of a success in most of 

 the Maine waters, and the possibilities of artificial etook- 

 rng are bi'ought more forcibly to mind than ever. 



Special. 



