CORMORANT. 
371 
The Cormorant is a very dexterous an<i voracious fisher, com- 
mitting great havoc when it visits pools and lakes ; but it almost 
constantly resides on the sea-shores, and is seldom seen inland. 
Swimming beneath the water with the velocity of a dart in the 
air, and remaining a long time submerged, its prey scarcely 
ever escapes, and it almost always rises with a fish in its bill, 
to swallow which it employs the expedient of tossing it into 
the air, and dexterously catches the head in its descent, so that 
the fins lie flat, and thus favor the passage down the throat ; the 
small pouch at the same time stretches so as to admit the whole 
body of the fish, which is often very large in proportion to the 
neck, and it there remains, undergoing a preparatory digestion 
previous to its passage into the lower part of the stomach. 
In some countries, as in China, and formerly in England, the 
dexterity of the Cormorant in fishing was turned to profit ; for 
by buckling a ring about the lower part of the neck, to prevent 
deglutition, and accustoming it to return with its acquisitions in 
the bill to its master, it w'as made a useful and domestic fisher. 
On the rivers of China, Cormorants thus fixed are perched on 
the prows ot boats, and at a signal made by striking the water 
with an oar, they instantly plunge, and soon emerge with a fish, 
which is taken from them. And this toil continues till its master 
is satisfied ; he looses the collar, and finishes the task by allow- 
ing it to fish for itself. But it is only hunger w'hich gives activ- 
ity to the Cormorant ; when glutted with its meal, which is soon 
acquired, it relaxes into its native indolence, and dozes away 
the greatest part of its time in gluttonous inebriety, perched 
in solitude on naked and instilated or inaccessible rocks to 
which it prudently retires for greater safety from the intrusion 
of enemies. 
In Europe, where these birds are alike sedentary and averse 
to migration, they are known to breed from the coasts of Hol- 
land to the shores of Creenland, and they are equally residents 
in America nearly to the extremity of the Union. The nest 
is usually made with sticks, sea-weeds, grass, and other coarse 
materials, commonly upon rocks, but sometimes upon trees on 
the banks of rivers, where they are occasionally seen perched. 
