[Illustration]
In western Europe, when falconry was in favor for taking game on land
and in the air, there was a certain vogue for training cormorants to
take fish. Like the falcons, the cormorants were hooded and carried
on the wrist, but of course where the falcons flew to their game, the
cormorants swam to theirs.
It was in China where cormorants were domesticated, "completely and
perfectly," as that eminent Sinologist Dr. Laufer says. Extensive
breeding establishments have been maintained. The eggs of the breeding
flock of cormorants are given to a hen to hatch, for cormorants as
mothers prove unsatisfactory under domestication. When the eggs hatch
the young cormorants must have special care; for, unlike the young of
ducks and geese, young cormorants at hatching are not down-covered
and able to run about, but are weak, helpless things sensitive to
cold. They are placed in cotton batting, artificial heat provided when
necessary, and they are fed by hand on a diet composed basically of
chopped eel.
Finally the young are full grown and fully feathered. The training is
now started. First the young are tied to a stake at the water's edge.
A whistle signal is given and the young cormorant is pushed into the
water. Thus he learns to know and obey the signal to go into the water.
Then the trainer throws him little fish. These the cormorant catches
in its beak and when he does the trainer whistles another signal, to
bring the bird back to him with the fish. And the cord tied to the
bird is used to demonstrate what is meant and make sure its done. So
the training goes on until the bird has graduated to a class taught
from a boat. Sometimes a small float is attached to the cormorant by
a short cord, and it can be drawn in with a bamboo hook. If young
birds are trained in the company of trained birds, it takes but half
as long. Finally the training is complete and the fisherman sets out
with his birds. This is no sporting event; it is the serious business
of life, getting a living from fishing. On the sampan or the bamboo
raft there may be from two to a dozen birds; sometimes they may have
special perches built for them along each side of the boat. Sometimes
the cormorant has a cord or band around its neck. The reason for this
is disputed. Some say its a place to attach a cord; a place to get hold
of the bird; some say each man's cormorant is thus specially marked for
identification; some that it's to prevent the bird from swallowing
its prey. With well-trained cormorants it is sometimes dispensed with.
At a signal the cormorants go into the water, swim, and dive seeking
fish. The fisherman, by stamping his feet, by voice or whistle, and by
hitting the water with a bamboo directs and encourages the birds. When
the cormorant catches a fish it brings it back to the boat, and the
fisherman may use a net, or may lift up the cormorant onto the boat
on an oar or pole, and take the fish from the bird. If a bird is lazy
it's encouraged by beating the water near it with a bamboo pole. As
cormorants' plumage is only partly waterproof they cannot stay in the
water indefinitely, and this, as well as fatigue, probably determines
the rest periods when the birds are lifted aboard. Sometimes the
fisherman helps attract fish to the boat for the cormorants to catch by
scattering grains of rice in the water.
When the day is finished the cormorants are collected, fed, and the
fisherman goes home with the sustenance for his family, gathered by a
bird.
In Japan the cormorant is also used, but apparently somewhat
differently. There cormorant fishing may partake of the nature of a
sport. Sometimes the cormorants are "harnessed" into a team, each
attached by a cord to a single line, directed by one master. In China
the fishing is usually done during the day, but in Japan night fishing
is common, the scene being illuminated by fires in braziers or cressets
on the boat, or lanterns.