w it in again, and resume its
former attitude. Such tame birds had never been seen. No wonder the
sight astonished the Bavarian boys. Both turned to Ossaroo for an
explanation, who gave it by simply nodding towards the lake, and
uttering the words--

"He go fishee."

"Ah! a fisherman!" rejoined the botanist.

"Yes, Sahib--you watchee, you see."

This was explanation enough. The boys now remembered having read of the
Chinese mode of fishing with cormorants; and even at the distance at
which they saw them, they could perceive that the birds on the boat were
no other than cormorants. They were the species known as _Phalacrocorax
Sinensis_; and although differing somewhat from the common cormorant,
they possessed all the characteristic marks of the tribe,--the long flat
body, the projecting breastbone, the beak curving downward at the tip,
and the broad rounded tail.

Desirous of witnessing the birds at work, our travellers remained
stationary near the shore of the lake. It was evident the fisherman had
not yet commenced operations, and was only proceeding towards his
ground.

After a short while he reached the centre of the lake; and then, laying
aside his long bamboo, he turned his attention to the birds. He was
heard giving them directions--just as a sportsman might do to his
pointer or spaniel--and the next moment the great birds spread their
shadowy wings, rose up from the edge of the boat, and after a short
flight, one and all of them were seen plunging into the water.

Now our travellers beheld a singular scene. Here a bird was observed
swimming along, with its keen eye scanning the crystal below--there the
broad tail of another stood vertically upwards, the rest of its body
hidden below the surface--yonder, a third was altogether submerged, the
ripple alone showing where it had gone down--a fourth was seen
struggling with a large fish that glittered in its pincer-like beak--a
fifth had already risen with its scaly prey, and was bearing it to the
boat; and thus the twelve birds were all actively engaged in the
singular occupation to which they had been trained. The lake, that but
the moment before lay tranquil and smooth as glass, was now covered with
ripples, with circling eddies, with bubbles and foam, where the huge
birds darted and plunged, and flapped about after their finny prey. It
was in vain the fish endeavoured to escape them--for the cormorant can
glide rapidly through the water, and swi