Nat, who had landed with us, was very anxious to keep a young cormorant which he had picked up.  He took it under his arm, intending to carry off his prize; but the mother bird attacked him so furiously with its long beak, that it nearly put out one of his eyes, and succeeded in severely biting his lip.  On this, Nat very naturally let go the youngster, which scuttled off, determined not to be caught again, and, taking to the water, swam away at a great rate.  The odour produced by the birds was anything but pleasant.  We saw a number of cormorants diving in search of prey, and they came up with eels in their mouths. One had caught a big eel, which it battered against the rock until it had killed it; but others gobbled down small eels without the slightest hesitation.  The young birds were the oddest-looking creatures imaginable.  Their covering was a hard black skin, with here and there black woolly down upon it.  The old birds' heads and necks were black, speckled with white feathers, while the upper part of the body was brown mingled with black.  They had also white patches on their thighs, and yellow pouches under the throat edged with white.  They were fully three feet long; so that, with their strong beaks, they were formidable antagonists.