Fishing Birds Does the cormorant air his wings to dry
them, raise them to ease his fish-laden stomach or hold them out to get rid of sea- lice as a reader suggests.? I am not sure now. That the cormorant has some unpleasant habits I know. He can bring up a foul- smelling fluid. I remember going to one that had been shot and discovering this. The heron too, is said to have a fluid that he brings up and puts into the water to attract fish. The old anglers used to believe this and said that if the fluid could be obtained it would make a wonderful addition to any bait. I never handled a heron to find out. I was always told not to shoot them, and, if I ever found one injured on the ground, to keep clear of his beak, for a stab from it could easily put out an eye. A• wounded cormorant will not hesitate to defend himself in the same way, and if his beak is not such a lance as that of the heron, it has a formid- able hook at the end. Few fish manage to escape once that hooked beak closes over them. The consequences of being seized by it could be very unpleasant. Don't let a dog pick a cormorant or a wounded hawk was the advice I was given when I first shot vermin. I was careful to see that no dog in my control ever did.
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