. Stories about birds of land and water . utsafe enough. The Chinese are not the only people who know the value of thecormorant as a fisher. It is said that the birds were once used in Englandfor the same purpose. The cormorant eats so much that it is very fat and heavy, but still it isan active bird, and is constantly flying about. It drops down from a great height to dive after its prey, and is seldomseen except when there is fish to be had. It very seldom makes an unsuccess-ful dive, and is often seen rising with a fish larger than it can swallow, andsometimes it has caught the fish by the
. Stories about birds of land and water . utsafe enough. The Chinese are not the only people who know the value of thecormorant as a fisher. It is said that the birds were once used in Englandfor the same purpose. The cormorant eats so much that it is very fat and heavy, but still it isan active bird, and is constantly flying about. It drops down from a great height to dive after its prey, and is seldomseen except when there is fish to be had. It very seldom makes an unsuccess-ful dive, and is often seen rising with a fish larger than it can swallow, andsometimes it has caught the fish by the tail, which is rather awkward. lathis case, the bird tosses the fish up in the air, so that it turns over, and comeshead first into its mouth. Like the pelicans, the cormorants can perch on^a tree, and they are fondof sitting on the ledges of rocks, where they make their nests. THE CORMORANT. 245 A colony of these birds nestled on the ledges of a great rocky cliff in theGulf of St. Lawrence. A naturalist was very anxious to see them, and. THE CORMORANT. crawled along the cliff, some hundred feet abov^c the rolling waters, until hefound himself only a few yards above the nest. He could then see thecormorants at home. 246 STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. The mother fondled her young with the greatest tenderness, and putsome food into the mouth of each. The Httle ones seemed very happy, andbilled and caressed their mother. But all at once this happy scene came to an end, for the mother bird!spied the intruder, and flew away, leaving the young ones quite at his little ones seemed much frightened, and crawled along the rock to a hole,,into which they went for shelter. The nests are made of a quantity of dry sticks, matted in a rude wa)^with weeds and moss. The cormorants mend the old nests every year, andcome back to the same place. On some of the ledges the nests are allcrowded together, but on every secure place is a nest, except towards the topof the rock, where there are none. The
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