Pla c e and
M anners .
the wing coverts; the prime quills dufky black*, the tail the
fame, much rounded in fhape, and confifts of fourteen feathers •
legs black. |
We find a remark in the Britijh Zoology, that the chin of the
male is white, and in that fex there is alfo a ftiort, loofe, pendent
creft at the hind head, with a large patch of white feathers over
the thighs ; but this perhaps is not peculiar, fince we have been
informed, that a fpecimen with all the laft-named markings has
proved, on difiedtion, to be a female*. May we not therefore, with
fome propriety, rather conclude that the above diftindtions are
thofe c f the birds in their higheft adult ftate ; and that the various
other differences rn plumage are thofe of the younger ft ages ? We
have obferved many birds called Corvorants, but none had the
white on the thighs, except thofe with the freaked heads .* in the
others, moft of them had white, more or lefs, under the chin and
fides of the head beneath the eyes ; many of them with fome portion
of white on the bread and belly, even to the laft being wholly
white, though in others the under parts were all black; and in
one fpecimen, in the Leverian Collection, the middle of the hind
head and nape had a narrow feries of long feathers ferving as a
creft.
This fpecies is found in England, and in many places of the old
continent; on the fhores of the Cafpian Sea is feen fometimes in
immenfe flocks ; frequent in the Lake Baikal; is mentioned as
inhabiting the Cape of Good Hope; alfo common in China, the
Philippine JJles, New Holland, New Zealand, and other parts.
It is found in many parts of the continent of America, being
met with in Hudfon's Bay, New Tork, and from thence as low at
* Mr. TunßalL
leaft
lead as Carolina: at the laft place feen, efpecially in March and
April, when the Herrings run up the creeks, at which time they
may be obferved fitting on the logs of wood which fall into the
water, waiting for the palling by of the fiß *. Our laft voyagers
met with it in Nootka Sound
The Corvorant, or what has been termed fuch, is faid to be
frequently made ufe of by the Chineje for fißing J, of which fome
fißermen keep feveral for that purpofe, and get a good livelihood
by it; and this circumftance, we are told, may now be feen by
thofe who vifit the Chineje empire. A ring placed round the neck
hinders the bird from fwallowing; its natural appetite joins with
the will of its mafter, and it inftantly dives at the word of command;
when, unable to gorge down the fiß it has taken, it re-,
turns to the keeper, who fecures it for him: fometimes, if the fiß
be too big for one to manage, two will a£t in concert, one taking
it by the head and the other by the tail.
The training up Corvorants for fißing, we are told, was once in
praftice in England, tying a leather thong round the neck inftead
* ArSl. Zool.—‘ Law/on's Carolina. f Cook's laß Voy. vol. ii. p. 297.
J II reffemble affez un Cor beau, mais le cou eft fort long, & le bee long,
“ crochu, & pointu : e’eft une efpece de Cormorans qu’ils dreflent a la pêche du
“ poiffon, ä peu pres comme on drefle les chiens ä prendre des lievres.” Du Hald.
Chin. vol. ii. p. 142. pi. in p. 162.— The figures of the birds in the plate are
not very well expreffed, but they feem rather to be thofe of the Corvorant than
any other.— Oßeck mentions, that the Chinefe call it Lou-foo. According to his
opinion, the prints give it greatly the appearance of the Man of War; but
though he was at fome pains to procure the bird itfelf, he could not : he ob-
ferves, that this way of filhing is ufed at Macao, and that it is very expenfive ;
its price is fettled, and is faid to amount very often to fifty tale : the fifherman
pays a certain fum of money as an annual contribution. Voy. ii. p. 35.
4 G 1 of