of a ring, keeping them in the houfe with due care, as is ufed in
refpeft to the Falcons; but we do not believe that the praftice
has ever been very common in this kingdom, fince it is not noticed
by authors in general, as it mud have been, if in frequent
ufe. IVUlugh by, who mentions the circumftance *, quotes, in the
margin, his authority, from Faber’s notes on Recchus’s animals;
but on infpedling the paflage alluded to f , we are-merely told,
that fome Corvorants, which had been trained for fiihing, were
fent, along with a Vulture, as a prefent from England to the king
of France; that they were hood-winked till they were let off to
fi(h, in the manner of the Falcon, and would fetch Trouts out of
the river very dexteroufly. However, that they were now and then
ufed is plain, both from thé above paffage, as well as what we
learn from the Br. Zoology) J. A circumftance is likéwife mentioned
* “ When they come to the rivers, they take off their hoods, and, having tied
" a leather thong round the lower part of their necks, that they may not fsvallow
“ down thefijh they catch, they throw them into the river. They prefently dive
“ under water, and there for a long time (with wonderful fwiftnefs) purfue the
" fijh, and when they have caught them, they arife prefently to the ,top of the
“ water, and prefling the fijh lightly with their bills, they fwallow them, till
*1 each bird hath in this manner fwallowed five or fix filhes 5 then their keepers
11 call them to the fift, to which they readily fly, and, little by little, One after
another, vomit up all their fijh, a little bruifed with tbè nip they gave thèm
“ with their bills. When they have done fiihing, fetting the birds on fome
“ high place, they loofe the firing from their necks, leaving the paflage to the
" fiomach free and open, and for their reward they throw them part of their
“ prey they have caught, to each perchance one or two filhes, which they by the
“ way, as they are falling in the air, will catch moll dexterouflyin their mouths.’*
trill. Orn. p. 329.
■ f See Hernand. Mexic. p. 693#
t Wbitelock tells us, “ that he had a call of them manned like Hawks, and
“ which
597
tioned by Swammerdam *, who feems to imply that the birds
were not taught in England, but imported from other parts ; and
gives the method of fiihing with them much to the fame purport
as related by us above.
The Corvorant is fufficiently common in this kingdom, but more
efpecially the northern part of it s it is likewife very frequent on
the continent, on all the northern Ihores, quite to Kamtfchatka f ; in
Greenland it remains the whole year, and builds on the tops of the
crags, laying three or more pale green eggs, the fize of thofe of a
Goofe-, but thefe prove fo very foetid and difgufting, that the
Greenlanders will fcarce ever eat them. Often feen in flocks on the
inacceffible parts of the rocks, and is in general a very wary bird,
yet at times is unaccountably torpid or heedlefs; for after a full
furfeit of fifh, or when afieep, will fuffer a net to be thrown over it,
or a nooje put round its neck, fo as to be eafily taken. About
twenty-five years fince one of thefe perched upon the cafile at
Carlifle, and foon afterwards removed to the cathedral, where it
was Ihot at upwards of twenty times Without effetft ; at length a
perfon got upon the cathedral, fired at, and killed it. In another
inftance, a flock of fifteen or twenty perched, at the dulk of the
evening, in a tree on the banks of the River Eft, near Netherby,
j which would come to hand. He took much pleafure in them ; and relates,
“ that the bell he had was one prefented him by Mr. Wood, Mafter of the Cor-
“ writes to C harles t.C— Br.Zool. ii. p. 610.
* Biblia Natura (at the end of his Introduction to the Hiß. of Bees). See Engl.
Tranß. Parti, p. 193.
t On the borders of the river Don, and the lakes of Ruff,a adjoining, are common,
and build in trees, five or fix nefts together on one tree ; thefe are large,
compofed of flicks and roots. Dec. Ruff. i. p. 164— They fometimes make the
nefts in trees in this kingdom, along with Herons.
3 the