126 
THE COMMON CORMORANT. 
character, but resembling that of the young of the Brown Pelican. They 
crawled sluggishly about, aiding themselves in their progress with their bills, 
and at all times looked extremely clumsy. They took food very readily, ate 
a prodigious quantity, certainly more than their own weight each day, and 
appeared always ready to receive more. When thrown overboard, they 
swam off under water, like the old birds, with considerable speed, moving 
their unfledged wings all the while. Some would not rise -for twenty or 
thirty yards, but few went farther under water than that distance, and they 
were soon fatigued. On one occasion, some half-grown young birds threw 
themselves from their nest, or were pushed off by their parents while in the 
agonies of death, they having been shot at. As they passed quickly down- 
wards through the air, they moved their wings with great rapidity, and the 
instant they reached the water they disappeared beneath the surface. 
This Cormorant swims at times with astonishing speed, keeping itself 
deeply immersed. Now and then, should it apprehend danger, it sinks so 
far as to shew only the head and neck, in the manner of the Anhinga. 
When searching for food in clear shallow water, they frequently swim with 
the rump rather elevated, and the head under, in the manner of the Shoveller 
Duck on such occasions, as if they were looking for prey on the bottom ; but 
I never observed them act thus when the depth of water exceeded a few 
yards. They secure their prey by diving and pursuing it under water, with 
the wings partially extended and employed as paddles, while the tail dix-ects 
their course, and checks or accelerates their speed. I have observed this 
in the Florida Cormorant, as well as in the present species. I never saw 
one while flying plunge after its prey ; but I have repeatedly seen them 
drop from a rock headlong into the sea when shot at for the purpose of 
observing their actions. 
Cormorants, Pelicans, Ducks, and other water birds of various kinds, are, 
like land birds, at times infected with insects which lodge near the roots 
of their feathers ; and to clear themselves of this vermin, they beat up the 
water about them by flapping their wings, their feathers being all the time 
ruffled up, and rub or scratch themselves with their feet and claws, much in 
the same manner as Turkeys and most land birds act, when scattering up the 
dry warm earth or sand over them. The water birds after thus cleansing 
themselves remove, if perchers, and able to fly, to the branches of trees, 
spread out their wings and tail in the sun, and after awhile dress their 
plumage. Those which are not perchers, or whose wings are too wet, swim 
to the shores, or to such banks or rocks as are above water, and there perform 
the same process. The Florida Cormorant is especially addicted to this 
practice, and dives and plumes itself several times in the day. The Double- 
crested and the present species, which inhabit colder regions, seem to be 
