Catoctin clarion., 1917-02-08


entirely foreign to the English
people, as early in the seven-
teenth century 1t was common
ly done in Old England, where the
master of cOrmorantS was one of the
officers of the royal household. In
Japan this way of fishing has been
practiced merely for economic pur-
poses, not for sporting ones as 1t was
in England, says Kiyoshi Sakamoto in
an article in Country Life. Its origin
here dates, indeed, from as far back
as $50 B. c.; that is conclusively
proved by the "uta" composed by very
early japanese poets. In ancient times
civilization came into Japan from
China, but / think this utilization of
the "feathered fishers" must have been
exported, on the contrary, to the
middle Kingdom. for there is documen-
tary evidence in China to show that 1t
was first practiced there early in the
sixteenth century.
In Japan this practice has zen safe
ly handed down to the present day,
protected by the law laid down by
Iyeyasu (the first Shotgun of the
Tokugawa dynasty), that prohibited
anything that would be likely to hinder
the practice of the fishing. There is
another reason why the operation,
though primitive in its way, is still
carried out in our country. The bird
has by instinct the faculty of choosing
the fish which are the best as table
delicacies. The fish caught by the
cormorant are far more delicious than
those secured by any other method.
The imperial household department,
with view to protecting this old
practice of fishing pays now % yens
or 20 yen per year as pension to the
professional fishers, and offers them
free access to the dead pine trees in
the imperial forests as fuel for the
braZiers.
The cormorant is chiefly used in ia
pan to catch ayu Qiterally, fragrant
tish'O, which is kind Of sweet fish,
and is known to ichthyologists as
plecoglossus altivelis T. and S. Some
of them measure more than foot In
length, but generally 6 or inches.
The season for the fishing Is from May
to October, during which time rivers
are visited by the small migratory
fish. AS to the ayu, Mr.. G. Ingram
states: "The Japanese epicures praise
the ayu very highly as table delicacy,
though it must be admitted that the
uneducated occidental palate usually
failr to detect its culinary merits; in
fact, when l tasted it / thought 1t
compared rather unfavorably with the
smelt, fish it specifically resembles"
l am told that a great number of the
ayu caught in the River Niagara arc
sent every summer to the imperial
household through the local governor,
as boiled ayu is one of the Mikado's
favorite dishes.
Birds Not Hard to Train.
The cormorant (the hest species for
the purpose is phalaCrocOrax capillat-
us) is apparently not very hard to
train. The young bird is caught in
winter, and is said to be entirely tanned
In two weeks. 1t takes, however, just
two years to enable it to render satis-
factory services to the keeper. While
the bird is being tanned the keeper
binds its beak with cord, so that 1t
may not hurt him. We learn that 1t
was formerly the custom in England
to carry the bird hooded till it could
be used for fishing, by which means 1t
was kept quiet. The operation Is
usually carried out on dark nights, as
the birds can do no good on bright