The curious bottle-green plumage, green eyes, long hooked beak, and head surmounted by a crest of the smaller sea-loving representative of the two British species were doubtless familiar enough to Milton before blindness overtook him.
Some of our readers may have made the acquaintance of the cormorant's nearest ally, the Darter, or Snake-neck, in the Fish-house at the Zoological Gardens of London. For the sake of those who have not, we may say that the darter may be described as a long-necked cormorant, with somewhat lighter plumage. The head is small and flat, and armed with a pointed, dagger-like bill, whose edges are finely toothed, with needle-like points projecting backwards. The neck is very long and slender; hence its name of Snake-neck. Furthermore, it is remarkable for a very strange "kink," formed by a peculiar arrangement of the neck-bones—an arrangement intimately associated with its peculiar method of capturing its prey, which, as with the cormorant, is pursued under water. How dexterously this is done may be seen any day in the Fish-house at the Zoological Gardens, where, as we have already mentioned, these birds are kept. At feeding-time they are turned loose into a large tank into which a number of small fish have been placed. The birds dive as soon as they reach the water, and with surprising speed chase their prey till within short range. Then, by a sudden bayonet-like lunge, made possible by the peculiar "kink" in the neck, a victim is transfixed, brought to the surface, released from the bill by a series of sudden jerks, tossed into the air, and dexterously caught and swallowed.
Photo by Scholastic Photo. Co.] [Parson's Green.
CORMORANT.
In the spring a slight crest is developed, and a white patch appears on the thigh.
The darter is found in Africa, India, the Malay region, Australia, and South America, frequenting the banks of rivers, lakes, and swamps, sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs or in immense flocks.
Very different from either of the foregoing species, both in build and coloration, is the Gannet. In its habits it is also different. The adult bird is about the size of a goose, white in colour, and armed with a powerful pointed bill. The young have a quite distinct plumage, being deep brown, speckled with white, this livery being worn for nearly three years.
The greater part of a gannet's lifetime seems to be spent upon the wing, a fact which implies a very different method of feeding from that followed by the cormorant and darter; and this is actually the case. Preying upon shoals of herring, mackerel, sprats, or pilchards, the birds, flying singly or in flocks, as soon as the fish are discovered, rise, soar in circles to such a height as experience shows best calculated to carry them by a downward motion to the required depth, and then, partially closing the wings, plunge upon their prey, and rarely without success, the time which elapses between the plunge and the immersion being about fifteen seconds. A flock of gannets feeding is a really wonderful sight, and can be witnessed in many places around the British coasts, for the gannet is one of the very common British birds. The pilchard-fishermen off the Cornish coast learn when the shoals are at hand, and the direction in which they are travelling, by the actions of these birds. A very cruel experiment is sometimes practised upon the gannet, based upon its well-known method of fishing. A herring is tied to a beam and set adrift, and the bird, not noticing the trap, plunges with its usual velocity upon the fish, with the result that it is killed instantly by the shock of the contact.
