The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-15
FISHERMEN IN FEATHERS.
FINE AT A CATCH ARE SOME OF
THE BIRDS THAT VISIT US.

merit D.ver--The Tinker and the
From the New York Sun.
A blue and white streak from an
oyerhanging limb to the water be-
meath. a splash, an exultant chatter,
and another fish is sacrifice to the
annette of the belted kingfisher. This
is no unusual sight along water courses
and about the shores of ponds and
lakes, and many people are familiar
with it. Every one takes it for granted
from his name that the kingfsher is
the feathered Izaak Walton, although
the fish hawk, too, is known as an ex-
merit angler; but very few people realize
that there are large numbers of COM
mon American birds which are equally
devoted to the piscatorial art.
Grebes, looms, auks, terms, gannets.
mergansers and many others live al
most wholly on fish, which they catch
either by diving or by actually giving
chase under water. 1t seems incredi-
BILE that a bird shrould be able to over
take a fish in its own element, but the
fact is unquestionable. Gulls are we'll
known to every one along our coasts,
hut the casual observer usually fails
to distinguish them from the terms
with which they are often associated
In spring and fall. The terms are less
numerous and average much smaller
and more slender. Unlike the Rulls,
their tails are always forkedi while
their fight is far more graceful. The
most striking difference is the manner
of holding the bill, which is the gull
point forward, but in the tern is held
st right angles tn the body.
Until terms become fashionable as
hat trimmings they were to be found
in countless thousands along the shore
in summer Now, If you would see
them in their breeding haunts you must
20 to Gull Island, near the eastern end
Of Long Island, or to Muskeget Island,
between Nantucket and Martha'S Vine
yard. where there are keepers paid to
protect them. There you will ind the
common terms or sea swallows and the
less numerous roseate terms. Both are
skillful fishermen, darting down upon
small fish swimming near the surface
with a rush that is seldom in vain. Of
ten they disappear under water for
moment.
The terms come to us in May, leav-
ing in September, for the South. About
the time of their departure, there ap-
pear along the Long Island shores the
cormorants, both the common cormo-
rant or shag and his double crested
brother. which, in spite of the name, Is
far commoner with us than the first
mentioned. Although many times
larger than the terms, they are fully
as agile anglers. From low perch or
while floating on the waves they dive
after fish swimming near the SURFACE,
often pursuing them under the water
for some distance and seldom failing
to close their strongly hooked beak up
on their prey. They use their wings
as well as their webbed feet In the
chase.
The shay is not a lovely creature to
look upon, rather a "nightmarish bird
Of rock and wave" and its voracity
is boundless The Chinese tame 1T and
teach 1t to fish for its owner, slipping
a close collar about the neck to keep
1t from swallowing what 1t catches
The name, -cornorant. is probably u
corruption of. the Latin. name, Corvus
marinus, or sea COW. They migrate in
large fiocks, flying high and much af-
ter the fashion of ducks. They breed
from the Bay of Fundy northward to
the Arctic Circle, nesting on rocky
lodges or low bushes. If the old birds
are unlovely, the newly Matched young
are simply hideous-naked, livid Jumps,
chiefly stomach and feet in very
filthy nest. Cormorants dive from the
water or a low perch, but the osprey
dashes down on it's victim from a look
out high in the air, where it sails slow
ly along. ever on the watch. The dizzy
plunge to the water and beneath 1t is
a stirring sight. The great splash
which follows is almost invariably the
death knell of fish. Instances have
been recorded of the hawk striking a
prize too large to be drawn from the
water, and, unable to release its talons,
both captive and captor perishing.
Like the osprey or fish hawk, the
piedbilled grebe sometimes breeds any
where in its range, but hereabouts 1t
Is chiefly a transient visitor, return
ing to us In September. Its relatives,
the horned grebe and Holboells grebe,
which breed in the extreme Northern
United States and thence northward
do not reach us on the return journey
until October. Water is the natural
element of the grebe, almost as much
as of the fish. From the hour 1t leaves
the egg, which has been warmed to
life in a nest of wet, half decayed
grass and reeds, usually floating in
the water of pond or slough, 1t avoids
the land, where, all its life, 1t is as
awkward as a human infant just learn
ing to walk, and it seldom mounts to
the air except when migrating. What
1t is in the water some of its names
may show. water witch" spirit
duck" clipper" hell diver" dip
chick" all indicate the remarkable
celebrity with which 1t disappears be-
meath the surface when danger threat
ems. Ordinarily it plunges forward with
amazing quickness and vanishes head
first, but 1t also has the unusual trick
of sinking backward into the water
with the suddenness of a stone. Fish
form its chief diet and it catches them,
using it's feet alone, which probably
move at much the same rate as the
humming birds wings. OF captive
grebe was said:
when lifted out Of the water the
feet worked so fast as to be lost to
the eye in a mere haze OF many
shadowy feet with one attachment"
LAS crazy as a loon" Is familiar
saying, but one who looks for the first
time upon this alert cunning, resolute,
powerful king of the divers may well
be at a loss to understand the ex-
preston. Possibly the source lies In its
weird, Inaniacal "ha, ha," which wakes
the echoes of the northern lakes, sound
ing like an uncanny vocalization or
mental unbalance. He is proud
sportsman who shoots loon, and
hundreds try for every one who sue
ceeds. The bird dives with almost In
credible suddenness, and 1t always