Part 38

Cormorants do not confine their fishing expeditions to the sea, but frequently ascend tidal rivers, and follow the course of streams which communicate with fish-ponds and lakes, where they commit great havoc; for the quantity of fish which they devour at a meal is very great. Pliny has observed that the Cormorant sometimes perches on trees; and the truth of this remark has been confirmed by many subsequent writers. They have been even known to build their nest in a tree, but this is a rare occurrence. They generally select exposed rocks, where they collect a large quantity of sticks and rubbish, and lay three or four eggs in a depression on the summit.

Most people are familiar with a representation of a fishery with the help of Cormorants conducted by the Chinese; but it is not so generally known that a similar method once was practised in England. Willughby quoting Faber's Annotations on the Animals of Recchus, says: 'It is the custom in England to train Cormorants to catch fish. While conveying the birds to the fishing-ground the fishermen keep the heads and eyes of the birds covered to prevent them from being alarmed. When they have reached the rivers, they take off the hoods, and having first tied a leather strap loosely round the lower part of the neck, that the birds may be unable to swallow down what fishes they catch, throw them into the water. They immediately set to work and pursue the fish beneath them with marvellous rapidity. When they have caught one they rise to the surface, and, having first pinched it with their beaks, swallow it as far as the strap permits, and renew the chase until they have caught from five to six each. On being called to return to their masters' fist, they obey with alacrity, and bring up, one by one, the fish they have swallowed, injured no farther than that they are slightly crushed. The fishing being brought to an end, the birds are removed from the neighbourhood of the water, the strap is untied, and a few of the captured fish, thrown to them as their share of the booty, are dexterously caught before they touch the ground.'

A pair hatched two young in the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park in 1882.

Shag Brent Goose

Bernacle Goose Cormorant

Gannet

Whooper Swan

Bewick's Swan ]

THE SHAG PHALACRÓCORAX GRÁCULUS

Tail graduated, of twelve feathers. In winter, general plumage deep greenish black; feathers of the back glossy with black borders; orbits and pouch greenish yellow; bill dusky; irides green; feet black. In summer, head crested. Young birds greenish brown above; light grey below. Length twenty-eight inches. Eggs greenish blue, chalky.

Except in the smaller size and differences of plumage mentioned above, there is little to distinguish the Shag from the Cormorant. Both, too, are of common occurrence, and frequent the same localities; except that the Shag is more disposed to be gregarious: it does not, however, commonly resort to tidal rivers, and is still more rarely found on inland lakes; its food and method of obtaining it are precisely similar, so that a description of one bird will suit the other almost equally well. The Shag is called sometimes the Green Cormorant, from the tint of its plumage; but this name is not in common use. Another of its names is the Crested Cormorant; but this is vague, inasmuch as both species are crested in spring. In Scotland a common name for it is Scart, applied also to the Great Cormorant.

THE GANNET SULA BASSANA

Crown buff-yellow; general plumage milk-white; quills black; bill bluish grey at the base, white at the tip; orbits pale blue; membrane prolonged from the gape and that under the throat dusky blue; irides yellow; feet striped with green, the membranes dusky; claws white. Birds of the first year, general plumage dusky brown, beneath greyish. In the second year, greyish black above, marked with numerous triangular white spots, whitish below. Length three feet. Eggs dull greenish white.

It would not be difficult to compile, from various sources, a description of the Gannet and its habits which would fill more pages than my readers, perhaps, would care to peruse. To avoid this contingency, I will limit myself to a statement of my own personal acquaintance with the bird and its ways, and a transcript of notes kindly furnished me by a friend who visited the Bass Rock, one of its favourite haunts in the breeding season.

Extract from my own Journal.--'August 27th. I lay for a long time to-day on the thick herbage which crowns the splendid cliffs, "the Gobbins", near the entrance of Belfast Lough, watching through a telescope the proceedings of some Gannets, or Solan Geese. This bird, which is allied to the Pelicans rather than the Geese, is of a large size, much bigger than a Gull, from which, also, it may be distinguished at a distance by its greater length of neck, the intense whiteness of its plumage, and the black tip of its wide-spreading wings. But apart from all these distinguishing characters, its mode of fishing is, by itself, sufficient to mark it. In flight it is eminently wandering; it circles round and round, or describes a figure of eight, at a varying elevation above the water, in quest of herrings, pilchards, or other fish whose habit is to swim near the surface. When it has discovered a prey, it suddenly arrests its flight, partially closes its wings, and descends head foremost with a force sufficient to make a jet d'eau visible two or three miles off, and to carry itself many feet downwards. When successful, it brings its prize to the surface, and devours it without troubling itself about mastication. If unsuccessful, it rises immediately, and resumes its hunting. It is sometimes seen swimming, perhaps to rest itself, for I did not observe that it ever dived on these occasions. My companion told me that the fishermen on the coast of Ireland say that, if chased by a boat when seen swimming, it becomes so terrified as to be unable to rise. The real reason may be that it is gorged with food. He was once in a boat on the Lough, when, a Gannet being seen a long way ahead, it was determined to give chase, and ascertain whether the statement was correct. As the boat drew near, the Gannet endeavoured to escape by swimming; but made no attempt either to dive or to use its wings. After a pretty long chase, the bowman secured it in spite of a very severe bite which it inflicted on his hand, and carried it home in triumph. It did not appear to have received any injury, and when released, in the evening of the same day, swam out to sea with great composure. A fisherman in Islay told me that in some parts of Scotland a singular method of catching Gannets is adopted. A herring is fastened to a board and sunk a few feet deep in the sea. The sharp eye of the Gannet detects the fish, and the bird, first raising itself to an elevation which experience or instinct has taught it to be sufficient to carry it down to the requisite depth, pounces on the fish, and in the effort penetrates the board to which the fish is attached. Being thus held fast by the beak, and unable to extricate itself, it is drowned. Gannets are frequently caught in the herring-nets, at various depths below the surface. Diving after the fish, they become entangled in the nets, and are thus captured in a trap not intended for them. They perform good service to fishermen, by indicating at a great distance the exact position of the shoals of fish.'

Gannets breed in great numbers on several parts of our rocky coast; from the extreme north to Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel. The two most important stations are St. Kilda and the Bass Rock, in the Firth of Forth. On this rock stand the ruins of the once formidable stronghold of the Douglas family, the Castle of Tantallan. In circumference the island is about a mile; on the northern side it rises to an elevation of eight hundred feet, whilst towards the south it shelves almost down to the sea. The isolated position of this rock, and the difficulty of landing on it, have rendered it a fit retreat for sea-fowl of various kinds; and as the proprietor 'preserves' them, they flourish without sensible diminution. The discharge of a gun causes the whole of the colony to take wing; and as they rise into the air, the eye of the spectator is dazzled by the mazy intercrossings of white wings, the ear bewildered by the discord of confused screamings. A visit paid at sunrise, when flocks of various kinds are wheeling about in all directions, will more than reward the early riser for his activity, for Scotland scarcely offers a more interesting sight. Of all the numerous birds which frequent the rock, the Solan Goose is the most abundant and most profitable, as almost the only revenue of the island accrues from the sale of these birds to the country people of the mainland, and at the Edinburgh market, where they have fetched, for the last century and a half, the unvarying price of two shillings and fourpence a head. The size of the Gannet is somewhat larger than that of the domestic Goose.

'The only parts of the island where they can be approached are on the south and west sides. They sit lazily and stupidly on and about their nests, which are composed of a mass of weeds and grass, and will suffer themselves to be stroked, patted, or knocked on the head, as the case may be, with a most philosophical gravity. They are frequently shot; but as they then generally fall into the sea, a boat has to be on the alert, or they are soon washed away. The plan of lowering a man by means of a rope held by the others, is also adopted; but this is most dangerous. The Frigate Pelican [The Skua?] often chases a successful Gannet till the terrified bird disgorges its prey, which the pursuer seizes before it reaches the water.'

'A Solan Goose to most people would not afford a delicious meal, being a rank, coarse, fishy dish; but many of the poorer classes eat them with a relish--nay, as a delicacy--and during the winter would fare ill had they not these birds for food.'

The Gannet lays but one egg; and the young bird is nourished on semi-liquid food disgorged by the parent. On its first exclusion from the egg its skin is naked, and of a bluish black hue, but is soon covered with a white down. Through this the true feathers appear, which are black, the adult plumage being pure white.

For an interesting account of the capture of these birds at St. Kilda, the reader is referred to Professor James Wilson's Voyage round the Coast of Scotland. From a calculation once made of the number of Gannets consumed by each family in a year, on this island, it appeared that the total secured, not taking into account a large number which could not be reached for various reasons, was 22,600: and this number was considered to be below the average, the season being a bad one.

ORDER HERODIONES

FAMILY ARDEIDÆ

THE COMMON HERON ÁRDEA CINÉREA

A crest of elongated bluish black feathers at the back of the head; similar feathers of a lustrous white hanging from the lower part of the neck; scapulars similar, silver grey; forehead, neck, middle of the belly, edge of the wings, and thighs, pure white; back of the head, sides of the breast, and flanks, deep black; front of the neck streaked with grey; upper plumage bluish grey; beak deep yellow; irides yellow; orbits naked, livid; feet brown, red above; middle toe, claw included, much shorter than the tarsus. In young birds the long feathers are absent; head and neck ash-coloured; upper plumage tinged with brown; lower, spotted with black. Length three feet two inches. Eggs uniform sea green.

The Heron, though a large bird, measuring three feet in length from the point of the beak to the extremity of the tail, and four feet and a half in breadth from the tip of one wing to the other, weighs but three pounds and a half. Consequently, though not formed for rapid flight, or endued with great activity of wing, its body presents so large a surface to the air, that it can support itself aloft with but a slight exertion. It is thus enabled, without fatigue, to soar almost into the regions assigned to the Eagle and Vulture; and when pursued by its natural enemies, the Falcons, to whom it would fall an easy prey on account of the largeness of the mark which its body would present to their downward swoop if it could only skim the plains, it is enabled to vie with them in rising into the air, and thus often eludes them.

The Heron, though it neither swims nor dives, is, nevertheless, a fisher, and a successful one, but a fisher in rivers and shallow waters only, to human anglers a very pattern of patience and resignation. Up to its knees in water, motionless as a stone, with the neck slightly stretched out, and the eye steadily fixed, but wide awake to the motion of anything that has life, the Heron may be seen in the ford of a river, the margin of a lake, in a sea-side pool, or on the bank of an estuary, a faultless subject for the photographer. Suddenly the head is shot forward with unerring aim; a small fish is captured, crushed to death, and swallowed head foremost; an eel of some size requires different treatment, and is worth the trouble of bringing to land, that it may be beaten to death on the shingle; a large fish is impaled with its dagger-like beak, and, if worth the labour, is carried off to a safe retreat, to be devoured at leisure. If observers are to be credited, and there is no reason why they should not, a full-grown Heron can thus dispose of a fish that exceeds its own weight. A frog is swallowed whole; a water rat has its skull split before it discovers its enemy, and speedily is undergoing the process of digestion. Shrimps, small crabs, newts, water beetles, all is fish that comes to its comprehensive net; but if, with all its watchfulness, the look-out be unsuccessful, it rises a few feet into the air, and slowly flaps itself away to some little distance, where perhaps, slightly altering its attitude, it stands on one leg, and, with its head thrown back, awaits better fortune. While thus stationed it is mute; but as it flies off it frequently utters its note, a harsh, grating scream, especially when other birds of the same species are in the neighbourhood. On these occasions it is keenly on the alert, descrying danger at a great distance, and is always the first to give notice of an approaching enemy, not only to all birds feeding near it on the shore, but to any Ducks which may chance to be paddling in the water.

During a great portion of the year the Heron is a wanderer. I have frequently seen it at least fifty miles distant from the nearest heronry; but when it has discovered a spot abounding in food, it repairs thither day after day for a long period.

In the month of January, if mild, but as a rule in February, Herons show a disposition to congregate, and soon after repair to their old-established breeding-places, called Heronries. These are generally lofty trees, firs or deciduous trees in parks, or even in groves close by old family mansions. One at Kilmorey, by Loch Gilphead, has long been frequented, though within a hundred yards of the house. The nests, huge masses of sticks, a yard across, lined with a little grass, and other soft materials, are placed near each other, as many, sometimes, as a hundred in a colony, or, more rarely, they are placed among ivy-clad rocks, ruins, or even on the ground. Each nest contains three to four eggs, on which the female sits about three weeks, constantly fed by her partner during the whole period of incubation. Two weeks later a second clutch of eggs is sometimes laid and hatched off whilst the first young are in the nest. The power of running would be of little use to a young bird hatched at an elevation of fifty feet from the ground; the young Herons are consequently helpless till they are sufficiently fledged to perch on the branches of the trees, where they are fed by their parents, who themselves perch with the facility of the Rook. Indeed, the favourite position of these birds, both old and young, is, during a considerable portion of the day, on the upper branches of a lofty tree, whither, also, they often repair with a booty too large to be swallowed at once.