The word Shâlâk and its signification—The Greek Catarrhactes—Habits of the Cormorant—The bird trained to catch fish—Mode of securing its prey—Nests and eggs of the Cormorant—Nesting in fir-trees —Flesh of the bird.
ALTHOUGH in the Authorized Version of the Scriptures the word Cormorant occurs three times, there is no doubt that in two of the passages the Hebrew word ought to have been rendered as Pelican, as we shall see when we come presently to the description of that bird.
In the two parallel passages, Lev. 11:1717And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, (Leviticus 11:17) and Deut. 14:1717And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant, (Deuteronomy 14:17), a creature called the Shâlâk is mentioned in the list of prohibited meats. That the Shâlâk must be a bird is evident from the context, and we are therefore only left to discover what sort of bird it may be. On looking at the etymology of the word we find that it is derived from a root which signifies hurling or casting down, and we may therefore presume that the bird is one which plunges or sweeps down upon its prey.
All Hebraists have agreed that it is one of the sea-birds, and this view of the case seems to be taken in the Septuagint, where the word is rendered by Catarrhactes, a term that has the same derivation in Greek as the Snâlâk in Hebrew. It is indeed the same word from which we form our term “cataract," to express the manner in which the water plunges or is hurled down from a height.
In consequence of this derivation, several writers have thought that the Shâlâk might be the Solan goose, or gannet, a bird which lives on fish, and always takes its prey by darting down upon it from a height. This bird, however, although it certainly answers completely to the sense of the word Shâlâk, is not common enough on the shores of Palestine to be specially mentioned among the unclean birds. Other writers, seeing this difficulty, have thought that the Shâlâk might be one of the terns, or sea-swallows, forgetful of the fact that these are not plunging birds, although exceedingly swift of flight.
Weighing, however, the opinions of the various Hebraists and naturalists, we may safely determine that the word Shâlâk has been rightly translated in the Authorized Version. The Hebrew Bible gives the same reading, and does not affix the mark of doubt to the word, though there are very few of the long list of animals in Lev. 11 and. Deut. 14 which are not either distinguished by the mark of doubt, or, like the Tinshemeth, are left untranslated.
The Cormorant belongs to the family of the pelicans, the relationship between them being evident to the most unpracticed eye; and the whole structure of the bird shows its admirable adaptation for the life which it leads.
Its long beak enables it to seize oven a largo fish, while the hook at the end prevents the slippery prey from escaping. The long snake-like neck gives the bird the power of darting its beak with great rapidity, and at the same time allows it to seize prey immediately to the right or left of its course. Its strong, closely-feathered wings enable it to fly with tolerable speed, while at the same time they can be closed so tightly to the body that they do not hinder the progress of the bird through the water; while the tail serves equally when spread to direct its course through the air, and when partially or entirely closed to act as a rudder in the water. Lastly, its short powerful legs, with their broadly-webbed feet, act as paddles, by which the bird urges itself through the water with such wonderful speed that it can overtake and secure the fishes even in their own element. Besides these outward characteristics, we find that the bird is able to make a very long stay under water, the lungs being adapted so as to contain a wonderful amount of air.
The method of catching prey which is practiced by the Cormorant is familiar to us from the fact that the Cormorant has been trained to play the same part in the water as the falcon in the air, and has been taught to catch fish, and bring them ashore for its master. So adroit are they, that if one of them should catch a fish which is too heavy for it another bird will come to its assistance, and the two together will bring the struggling prey to land. Trained birds of this description have been employed in China from time immemorial, and in later years they have been re-introduced into England, where they have often exhibited their really wonderful powers.
In the days of Charles I. these birds were kept in training, and there was attached to the Court a professed official, called the King's Master of the Cormorants. These birds were usually caught and trained in Holland, and thence exported to England. The disturbed state of the country during the civil wars, added to the sport-destroying character of the Puritans, seems to have caused the sport to be abandoned in this country, and it is only within the last few years that they have been again employed. In order to prevent it from swallowing the fish which it takes, each bird has a ring or ligature passed round its neck.
The Cormorant is a most voracious bird, swallowing a considerable weight of fish at a meal, and digesting them so rapidly that it is soon ready for another supply. Although it is essentially a marine bird, hunger often takes it inland, especially to places where are lakes or large rivers. Mr. Waterton mentions, in his “Essays on Natural History," that the Cormorants often visited the lake at Walton Hall, and that they soon became so familiar and fearless, that alter catching and eating their prey they would sit on the terrace and preen their feathers under the windows of the drawing-room.
The lake is by no means a large one, and it is probable that the birds were attracted by the absolute security which was felt by every winged creature within the domain. “His skill in diving," writes Mr. Waterton," is most admirable, and his success beyond belief. You may know him at a distance, among a thousand water-fowl, by his upright neck, by his body being apparently half immersed in the water, and by his being perpetually in motion when not on land.
“While the ducks and teal and widgeons are stationary on the pool, the cormorant is seen swimming to and fro, as if in quest of something. First raising his body nearly perpendicular, down he plunges into the Jeep, and, after staying there a considerable time, he is sure to bring up a fish, which he invariably swallows head foremost. Sometimes half an hour elapses before he can manage to accommodate a large eel quietly in his stomach.
“You see him straining violently with repeated efforts to gulp it; and when you fancy that the slippery mouthful is successfully disposed of, all on a sudden the eel retrogrades upwards from its dismal sepulcher, struggling violently to escape. The cormorant swallows it again, and up again it comes, and shows its tail a foot or more out of its destroyer's mouth. At length, worn out with ineffectual writhing and sliding, the eel is gulped down into the cormorant's stomach for the last time, there to meet its dreaded and inevitable fate.”
Mr. Fortune gives a somewhat similar account of the feeding of tame Cormorants in China. The birds preferred eels to all other food, and, in spite of the difficulty in swallowing the slippery and active creature, would not touch another fish as long as an eel was left. The bird is so completely at home in the water that it does not need, like the heron and other aquatic birds, to bring its prey ashore in order to swallow it, but can eat fish in the water as well as catch them. It always seizes the fish crosswise, and is therefore obliged to turn it before it can swallow the prey with the head downwards. Sometimes it contrives to turn the fish while still under water, but, if it should fail in so doing, it brings its prey to the surface, and shifts it about in its bill, making a series of little snatches at it until the head is in the right direction. When it seizes a very large fish, the bird shakes its prey just as a dog shakes a rat, and so disables it. It is said to eat its own weight of fish in a single day.
Sometimes, when it has been very successful or exceptionally hungry, it loads itself with food to such an extent that it be-comes almost insensible during the process of digestion, and, although naturally a keen-eyed and wary bird, allows itself to be captured by hand.
The nest of the Cormorant is always upon a rocky ledge, and generally on a spot which is inaccessible except by practiced climbers furnished with ropes, poles, hooks, and other appurtenances. Mr. Waterton mentions that when he descended the Raincliff, a precipice some four hundred feet in height, he saw numbers of the nests and eggs, but could not get at them except by swinging himself boldly off the face of the cliff, so as to be brought by the return swing into the recesses chosen by the birds.
The nests are mostly placed in close proximity to each other, and are made of sticks and seaweeds, and, as is usual with such nests, are very inartificially constructed. The eggs are of a greenish white on the outside, and green on the inside. When found in the nest, they are covered with a sort of chalky crust, so that the true color is not perceptible until the crust is scraped off. Two to four eggs are generally laid in, or rather on, each nest. As may be imagined from the character of the birds' food, the odor of the nesting-place is most horrible.
Sometimes, when rocks cannot be found, the Cormorant is obliged to select other spots for its nest. It is mentioned in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society," that upon an island in the midst of a large lake there were a number of Scotch fir-trees, upon the branches of which were about eighty nests of the Cormorant.
The flesh of the Cormorant is very seldom eaten, as it has a fishy flavor which is far from agreeable. To eat an old Cormorant is indeed almost impossible, but the young birds may be rendered edible by taking them as soon as killed, skinning them, removing the whole of the interior, wrapping them in cloths, and burying them for some time in the ground.
From the account of this bird, the reader will see that it may well be the Shâlâk of the Old Testament. Owing to its size and its peculiar habits, it is a very conspicuous bird, and therefore likely to be selected by name by the ancient lawgiver. And although its flesh is not very agreeable, it can be eaten; and, as has been shown, can be rendered tolerably palatable by a very simple process. The flesh of the Solan goose is deprived in a similar manner of its naturally rank and fishy flavor.