CORMORANT. 
189 
the cormorant alone, of all birds of that class, makes use 
of ... . Nature seems to have intended a check upon 
human gluttony by rendering those quadrupeds and birds, 
which are most remarkable for an intemperate indulgence 
of the appetite, the most hateful and offensive. The 
cormorant is a proof of this, than which bird no other is 
more voracious in feeding, nor, at the same time, more 
disagreeable in person, detestable in smell, or disgusting in 
manners." 
Gilpin, in his description of the Beaulieu River (" Forest 
Scenery") describes the cormorant there as it sat " watching 
the ebbing tide .... his stand on some solitary post, set 
up to point the channel of the river." 
Colonel Hawker frequently made expeditions to the 
Needles and the Freshwater Cliffs from Keyhaven for 
the purpose of shooting cormorants, or, as he called it, 
" lowering a parson " ; and the " reverend devourers " were 
considered by him difficult birds to kill, from their wariness, 
and from the quantity of shot it took to bring one down. 
It frequently strays inland, ascending the rivers for 
some distance, and visiting inland pieces of water in 
search of food ; and it has occurred at Wolmer, Ringwood, 
Alresford, Winchester, Laverstoke, etc., the eels which 
inhabit these fresh waters being the chief attraction. 
In 1867 Frank Buckland related' that "he enjoyed the 
privilege of seeing Captain Salvin's cormorants work in 
the River Test. The miller put down his hatches for the 
cormorants to work in the pool. The birds had not been 
in the pool a moment before we saw them hunting a large 
fish round and round under water ; the fish was so large they 
could not swallow it, and there was a regular set-to under 
^ " Life of Frank Buckland," by G. C. Bompas. 1886. 
