hina at Leagram Hall, Lancashire. It can easily be understood that James I., who was so
would not be long in taking up Cormorant-fishing ; and hence we find many
cord Office. From these papers it appears that he built an
he spot where the new Houses of Parliament have been
, and filled with water from the Thames

upon ancient Cc
passionately fond of sport,
esting documents confirming this 1n the Re

establishment for his Cormorants about t
and stored with suitable fish
Master of the Royal Cormorants, which, like

as an office of importance. Luke,

inter
extensive
erected ; and here he had ponds made
Jobn Wood seems to have been the first

orse, and the Master of the Royal Buckhounds, w
, and John Harris, gentlemen, are mentioned ;_ but they

by means of sluices.
the Master of the H
Robert, and Richard Wood, George Hutchinson
appear to have been only Cormorant-keepers. ”

« Cormorants, when at their breeding-stations,” remarks Yarrell, “ seem to prefer the higher parts of the
rocks or cliffs; and many birds congregate harmoniously together. They make a large nest, composed of
sticks, with a mass of seaweed and long coarse
small compared with the size of the bird. The eggs are oblong, similar in shape at both ends, rough in texture
externally, of a chalky white colour, varied with pale blue, the length two inches nine lines, by one inch and

seven lines in breadth. Mr. Selby says, ‘The young, when first excluded, are blind, and covered with a

bluish-black skin; in the course of a few days they acquire a thic
fledged to take to the water, though still unable to fly, in the space of three weeks or a month.’ The old

birds fly well, generally low over the surface of the water; they swim rapidly, and dive in perfection ; their

food is fish, which they appear to catch with great ease and hold with certainty
r mandible, their dilatable throat enabling them to swallow a large prey. When fishing,
y their heads under water, perhaps that vision may not be interfered

grass ; they lay four, five, and sometimes six eggs, which are

k covering of black down, and are sufficiently

by the sharp, booked, horny

point of the uppe
they are frequently observed to carr
with by the ripple on the surface. They are frequently seen sitting on posts, rails, or leafless trees by the
water-side, when, if a fish should m
An eel is a favourite morsel with him ; and a Cormorant has been seen to pick up an eel from
‘ail he was previously sitting upon, strike the eel three or four hard blows against

ove on the surface within their sight, it is pounced upon and caught to a

certainty.
the mud, return to the
the rail, toss it up in the air, and, catching it by the head in its fall, swallow it in an instant.”

Perhaps the most interesting feature connected with the various members of this somewhat large family
of water-birds is the degree of ornamentation by which they are characterized during the periods of spring
and summer, in which respect no two species are precisely alike. Several of the foreign kinds are more
highly decorated than our own, some having double crests, others the cheek-feathers greatly developed ; and
others, again, are distinguished by peculiar marks on the thighs. That these extraordinary appendages are
perfectly useless as regards the economy of the birds is certain ; and they cannot be regarded as sexual dis-
tinctions, both sexes being clothed alike, and the female being in some instances more beautifully marked
than the male; neither can it be for the purpose of attracting the fishes or the lower animals upon which the
bird feeds, inasmuch as they are only carried at one season and not at others, and are not assumed under
any circumstances until the birds are fully adult, say at least two years old; it therefore appears to me that
they are for ornamentation only. A similar nuptial dress is to be found among other groups of water-birds,
particularly the Grebes, the Auks, and the Penguins.

The principal figure in the accompanying Plate is about two thirds of the natural size, in the plumage of

spring.