The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-12-08
A BABY coRMoRANT.

he Tells What Ne Expects to DO in the
Way Of . ishing--A Grsat Colony Of His
Kind ON the Danube River.
Here l sit in my nest Of sca-weed.
waiting for my dinner You may call
me Tom All-alone. If you like; but in an
o,hrr fortnight you won't see Inc on this
rock, for then shall be able to fly oil
and provide for myself. You want to
know my rea name? Well, I'm cor
morant. and am given to understand
that that word means . sea COW.
daresay that is quite right, though | can
not be said to bear any resemblance to
your old friend Jim.
! am fond of eating. People say
that cormorants are great and greedy
eaters, ana they are not far wrong.
We kill tremendous quantity OF
fishes and for that reason
are not popular in many To-
calities inland plac 8 espec ally. That
is why, rs rule, we prefer to live by
the &C an, where our tnny prey are
plent full. and there is no one to COM
plain of our taking just as many of them
as we please; but case is recorded OF
# so ne Of our folk, settling i, the mid
die ofa town. and choosing the church
to ser for their headquarters.
| think that the cormorants may be
rroud O. the WY in which they sustain
ill., good name of III. b I'd for incl
gence Though you would not cx-
pee us to be skllful at fish NJ for others.
see ng that we are 50, fon of eating all
that we catch, L understand that our
Oh nese brothers are regularly tanned
and trained 10 fish tor man. Th train
ing 9 ms from Their infancy. They
haze hardly left the shell before they
are taken to the water and taught TO do
what their ma Ter tells them. and to
bring to him the ishes VIII ,ch they
ca ture.., u ~ is.''f. '.'.f leo.
The Chinaman go's out on the wat n
on q bamboo raft. VIII Oh he drives ab ,ut
" tn a paddle and each raft carries
three or four cormorants. The only in
tinat on that the bird gets VIII n it is
wanted to angle is ro..g push OF the
raft. shou d it be unwilling or t0s
IL y to fish. the man str kes the water
: with his pad. lie, or else gives the cormo.
rant \ tap with it, whereupon It divest to
escape the blows. AS soon Ms secures
a sh t ses TO the surface. and, natu'
rally enough. tres to swallow IS vic
tim. But, OF course, John Chnaman
,, has no intention to low it 10 enjoy the
fruits of its labor. How does he pre-
| CD M 0,.oo
! and SO the cunning ra'tsman ties {
SIR NO, or fas,ens a metal ring. rount
; the bri's neck, which prevents it from
swallow ng any but the SMILES
fishes Tie cormorant either brings t.
', prey to the raft, or else the ra t il
swiftly radd'ed towards it lest the fisl
escape, for the bird ias often q tougl
struggle before it catches a lar e fish
A net is cleyerly thrown over the b rd
and it is hauled on the raft. The fish i
!, then forced from IFS grasp and p tche'
! into big basket, while the cormoran
:, is rewarded with mouthful of food, O
), which it is enable to partake by the rim;
y being ia S d. .....
Sonnet mes bird will make an at
tempt 10 escape. In this case the Oh ma
man raddles after it and soon overtlke
it. But in order TO crush these Tort
d alter freedom, it is often the custom t
cha the cormorant to the rat. have
II h ard that two of the b rds VII quar-
rel for the fish that one Q
v them has caught. u I'd that the unsu
cessful anger Will at mes chase tn
more fortunate b ri and try to depriv
it of its victim. III proves they ar
capable of rvalry, and even OF jealousy
+ These fishing exploits generally attrac
) crowds of human spectators who shou
out loudly at the smart p ecesOf angling
|. ] have no amb ton to be n trained fish
). or, for. after all, it is slavery as CON
pared " tn the life of the Wild c,rmn
rants. who can fish in the sea the who'll
h day if they choose, and only for them
= selves and Their children. .....
have heard there are colon es of col
u morants on some of the islands of til
y danube yer. A party of sportsme
once visited them, and were receive
Q W tn shouts of laughter by the old
IS birds, and with VIII sting noises by tn
younger. Their nerves were upse
q however. by shot, which made thel
% dart from their nests with I'll
speed of arrows. The observers havin
g hidden themselves among the bushe
g. the b rds cautiously rctu ned, first tiyin
round and round Mt great height. sp,
y ing whether the enemy had gone, an
l. then fly ng to their nests with the sam
!. sudden RAPID ~. DESPITE all their car
S. q number of them were shot II
o wounded defended themselves WI
d marked ccursg.. sending dog G
howl ng with pain, biting one ma
g through his trousers. and nearly blin'
u ing smother BY striking him hatwee
a hsevea -ss { -
. battles, stubborn'y contested. oftt
u take place between comorants al
- herons. when the former try to DIR
:. the latter from Their hcronries Til
:, comes of their leaving the sea and see
> ing TO take up their dwellings inlan
Rocker es. too. are attacked; b
the rocks are no mach 4
N Their powerful invaders Four pal
70 OF cormo ants once dispossessed {
4. heron of tier nests in h Oh bee
10 tree in Dutzenburg. In the au umn