Cormorant

a family of fish-pursuing birds. Of thirty species ten are found in North America. They breed and fish in colonies, chiefly on the seacoast, but are found on large bodies of inland waters as well. They dive from the surface or from a low perch. The double crested cormorant, about thirty-three inches in length, chiefly black, nests in trees about the lakes of the upper Mississippi Valley. A colony nesting on an island in a lake, for instance, seems to map out the fishing waters. The females feed near the island; the males fly often several miles away each to his preserve. The cormorant pursues fish under water with inconceivable rapidity. The loon uses feet only, but the cormorant uses feet and wings. The feet fold when carried forward, and open during the stroke. The Chinese boat-dwellers train tame cormorants to catch fish. The cormorant sits on the side of the house-boat gravely watching for fish, which it is claimed he pursues to a depth of 100 feet, if necessary. A ring on the neck prevents the bird from swallowing the fish until fed by its master. The English nobility at an early date took fish in the same way. When at leisure a cormorant takes pleasure in playing with a live fish like a cat with a mouse. The fish is tossed into the air and caught again in the wide bill. See Pelican; Anhinga; Albatross