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Show Cormorant. New York Continent. Cormorants are large web-footed birds found on rocky coasts in most parts of the world, and living entirely 011 tich. They do not take their prey by diving when on the wing, but pursue it by ttwimming and diving, using their wings iu progress under water and descending des-cending to a w underfill depth. When the prey has been caught iu a manner inconvenient for swallowing they toss it in the air anil adroitly catch it as it conies down. The name cormorant sig-nities sig-nities "a sea crow," and it has also come to signify a glutton, these birds being exceedingly greedy. They can be easily tamed, and in China" they are regularly trained to catch fish for their master. They go out in a boat with him and sit quietly on the edge of it, until they receive his orders. Then they dash into the water, seio the fish in their beaks aud bring them to him. Should ouo of the birds pounce upon a tish too large for it to carrv alone, one of its coiiiuaiiiong will come to its assistance, and the two together to-gether will bring it 10 the boat. Sometimes Some-times a cormorant takes an idle fit and swims playfully about instead of attending at-tending to its business, but it is soon called to a sense of its duty by its master, who strikes the water sharply with bis oar and shouts at it, when it immediately stops playing and dives for a tish. And when the task is completed com-pleted the birds are allowed a good share of the fish, which they gobbfo In even less time than they took to catch it. |