upon ancient china at Leagram Hall, Lancashire. It can easily be understood that James I., who was so 
passionately fond of sport, would not he long in taking up Cormorant-fishing ; and hence we find many 
interesting documents confirming this in the Record Office. From these papers it aj)pears that he built an 
extensive establishment for his Cormorants about the spot where the new Houses of Parliament have been 
erected ; and here he had ponds made and stored with suitable fish, and filled with water from the Thames 
by means of sluices. John Wood seems to have been the first Master of the Royal Cormorants, which, like 
the Master of the Horse, and the Master of the Royal Buckhoimds, was an office of importance. Luke, 
Robert, and Richard Wood, George Hutchinson, and John Harris, gentlemen, are mentioned; but they 
appear to have been only Cormorant-keepers.” 
“ Cormorants, when at their breeding-stations,” remarks Yarrell, “ seem to prefer the higher parts of the 
rocks or cliffs ; and many birds congregate harmoniously together. They make a large nest, composed of 
sticks, w ith a mass of seaweed and long coarse grass ; they lay four, five, and sometimes six eggs, which are 
small compared with the size of the bird. The eggs are oblong, similar in shape at both ends, rough in texture 
externally, of a chalky white colour, varied with pale blue, the length two inches nine lines, by one inch and 
seven lines in breadth. Mr. Selby says, ‘ The young, when first excluded, are blind, and covered with a 
bluish-black skin ; in the course of a few days they acquire a thick covering of black down, and are sufficiently 
fledged to take to the water, though still unable to fly, in the space of three weeks or a month.’ The old 
birds fly well, generally low over the surface of the water; they swim rapidly, and dive in perfection ; their 
food is fish, which they appear to catch with great ease and hold with certainty by the sharp, hooked, horny 
])oint of the upper mandible, their dilatable throat enabling them to swallow a large prey. When fishing, 
they are frequently observed to carry their heads under water, perhaps that vision may not be Interfered 
with by the ripple on the surface. They are frequently seen sitting on posts, rails, or leafless trees by the 
w'ater-side, when, if a fish should move on the surface within their sight, it is pounced u})on and caught to a 
certainty. An eel is a favourite morsel with him ; and a Cormorant has been seen to pick up an eel from 
the mud, return to the rail he was previously sitting upon, strike the eel three or four hard blows against 
the rail, toss it up in the air, and, catching it by the head in its fall, swallow it in an instant.” 
Perhaps the most interesting feature connected with the various members of this somewhat large family 
of water-birds is the degree of ornamentation by which they are characterized during the periods of spring 
and summer, in which respect no two species are precisely alike. Several of the foreign kinds are more 
highly decorated than our own, some having double crests, others the cheek-feathers greatly developed ; and 
others, again, are distinguished by peculiar marks on the thighs. That these extraordinary appendages are 
perfectly useless as regards the economy of the birds is certain ; and they cannot be regarded as sexual dis- 
tinctions, both sexes being clothed alike, and the female being in some instances more beautifully marked 
than the male ; neither can it be for the purpose of attracting the fishes or the lower animals upon which the 
bird feeds, inasmuch as they are only carried at one season and not at others, and are not assumed under 
any circumstances until the birds are fully adult, say at least two years old ; it therefore appears to me that 
they are for ornamentation only. A similar nuptial dress is to be found among other groups of water-birds, 
particularly the Grebes, the Auks, and the Penguins. 
The principal figure in the accompanying Plate is about two thirds of the natural size, in the plumage of 
spring. 
