146 
THE FLOE IDA CORMORANT. 
manner of the Anhinga or Snake-bird, and easily dive without shewing their 
backs. 
They procure their food entirely by diving from the surface of the water, 
never from on wing, as some compilers assert ; nay, the very form of their 
bill, and the want of air-cells, such as plunging birds are usually provided 
with, prevent them from darting from above into the water, as is the habit 
of Gannets and other birds, which seek for food on wing, go far out to sea, 
and stand gales such as the Cormorant, which rarely ventures out of sight 
of the shores, does not dare to encounter, or of those which, like Gulls, pass 
swiftly in curved lines over the surface, picking up their prey. On emerg- 
ing, these Cormorants usually swallow their prey if it has been so seized as 
to enable them to do so with ease ; if not, they throw it up to a short dis- 
tance in the air, receive it with open bill, and gulp it head foremost. If 
the fish is large, they swim or fly to the shore, or alight on a tree with it, 
and there beat and tear it to pieces, after which they swallow it. Their 
appetite is scarcely satiable, and they gorge themselves to the utmost at 
every convenient opportunity. 
The flight of this species is perhaps more rapid than that of the others, 
and is performed by continued flappings when the bird is travelling, but by 
alterjaate flappings and sailings of great elegance during the beginning of 
the breeding season, or when they collect in large flocks in lowering weather, 
sometimes also when about to alight. Their food consists chiefly of fish, 
and they generally prefer those of small size. While on the Florida Keys, 
I procured five specimens of the Hippocampus, fresh and uninjured, from 
the gullets of some of these Cormorants. They are hard to kill, and live 
to a great age. 
They are easily treated in captivity ; but their awkward movements on the 
ground, where they often use the tail as a support, render them less pleasing 
objects than other feathered pets. Besides, they eat and mute inordinately, 
and instead of charming you with songs, utter no sound excepting a grunt. 
Their flesh is dark, generally tough, and has a rank fishy taste. The Indians 
and Negroes of the Fk Idas kill the young when nearly able to fly, and after 
skinning them, salt them for food. I have seen them offered for sale in the 
New Orleans market, the poorer people there making gumbo soup of them. 
A bird of this species, which I shot near its. breeding place, and which, on 
being examined, proved to be a female, had the feathers of the tail covered 
with delicate slender sea-weeds of a bright green colour, such as I have 
often observed on marine turtles, and which appeared to have actually grow n 
there. 
The slender feathers on the sides of the head fall off by the time incubation 
has commenced, and do not appear during winter, as is alleged by authors 
