44 
fish is too large, they then give each other 
mutual assistance; one seizes it by the 
head, the other by the tail, and in this man- 
lier carry it to the boat together. There 
the boatman stretches out one of his long 
oars, on which they perch, and being de- 
livered of their burthen, they fly off 
to pursue their sport. When they ar e 
wearied, he lets them rest for a while ; but 
they are never fed till their work is over. 
In this manner they supply a very plenti- 
ful ta,ble; but still their natural gluttony 
cannot be reclaimed even by education. 
They have always, while they fish, the 
same string fastened round their throats, to 
prevent them from devouring their prey; 
as otherwise they would at once satiate 
themselves, and discontinue the pursuit 
the moment they had filled their bellies." 
Sir George Staunton, in his Embassy, 
also gives an amusing account of the 
Chinese mode of fishing with these birds, 
Corvorants are frequent on most of our 
sea coasts and neighbouring marshes, 
where, it is no unusual thing to see twenty 
or more of these birds on the rocks and 
