dress, which is deep black, glossed above with bronze, and varied in the breeding-season with white on the cheeks and flanks, besides being adorned by filamentary feathers on the head, and further set off by a bright yellow gape. The old cormorant looks nearly as big as a goose, but is really much smaller; its flesh is quite uneatable.
Taken when young from the nest, this bird is easily tamed and can be trained to fish for its keeper, as was of old time commonly done in England, where the master of the cormorants was one of the officers of the royal household. Nowadays the practice is nearly obsolete. When taken out to furnish sport, a strap is fastened round the bird’s neck so as, without impeding its breath, to hinder it from swallowing its captures.[1] Arrived at the waterside, it is cast off. It at once dives and darts along the bottom as swiftly as an arrow in quest of its prey, rapidly scanning every hole or pool. A fish is generally seized within a few seconds of its being sighted, and as each is taken the bird rises to the surface with its capture in its bill. It does not take much longer to dispose of the prize in the dilatable skin of its throat so far as the strap will allow, and the pursuit is recommenced until the bird’s gular pouch, capacious as it is, will hold no more. It then returns to its keeper, who has been anxiously watching and encouraging its movements, and a little manipulation of its neck effects the delivery of the booty. It may then be let loose again, or, if considered to have done its work, it is fed and restored to its perch. The activity the bird displays under water is almost incredible to those who have not seen its performances, and in a shallow river scarcely a fish escapes its keen eyes, and sudden turns, except by taking refuge under a stone or root, or in the mud that may be stirred up during the operation, and so avoiding observation (see Salvin and Freeman, Falconry, 1859).
Nearly allied to the cormorant, and having much the same habits, is the shag, or green cormorant of some writers (P. graculus). The shag (which name in many parts of the world is used in a generic sense) is, however, about one-fourth smaller in linear dimensions, is much more glossy in plumage, and its nuptial embellishment is a nodding plume instead of the white patches of the cormorant. The easiest diagnostic on examination will be found to be the number of tail-feathers, which in the former are fourteen and in the shag twelve. The latter, too, is more marine in the localities it frequents, scarcely ever entering fresh or indeed inland waters.
In the south of Europe a much smaller species (P. pygmaeus) is found. This is almost entirely a fresh-water bird, and is not uncommon on the lower Danube. Other species, to the number perhaps of thirty or more, have been discriminated from other parts of the world, but all have a great general similarity to one another. New Zealand and the west coast of northern America are particularly rich in birds of this genus, and the species found there are the most beautifully decorated of any. All, however, are remarkable for their curiously-formed feet, the four toes of each being connected by a web, for their long stiff tails, and for the absence, in the adult, of any exterior nostrils. When gorged, or when the state of the tide precludes fishing, they are fond of sitting on an elevated perch, often with extended wings, and in this attitude they will remain motionless for a considerable time, as though hanging themselves out to dry. It was perhaps this peculiarity that struck the observation of Milton, and prompted his well-known similitude of Satan to a cormorant (Parad. Lost, iv. 194); but when not thus behaving they themselves provoke the more homely comparison of a row of black bottles. Their voracity is proverbial. (A. N.)
CORN (a common Teutonic word; cf. Lat. granum, seed,
grain), originally meaning a small hard particle or grain, as of
sand, salt, gunpowder, &c. It thus came to be applied to the
small hard seed of a plant, as still used in the words barley-corn
and pepper-corn. In agriculture it is generally applied to the
seed of the cereal plants. It is often locally understood to mean
that kind of cereal which is the leading crop of the district;
thus in England it refers to wheat, in Scotland and Ireland to
oats, and in the United States to maize (Indian corn). See
Grain Trade; Corn Laws; Agriculture; Wheat;
Maize; &c.
The term “corned” is given to a preparation of meat (especially beef) on account of the original manner of preserving it by the use of salt in grains or “corns.”
CORN (from Lat. cornu, horn), in pathology (technically
clavus), a localized outgrowth of the epidermic layer of the skin,
most commonly of the toe, with a central ingrowth of a hard
horny plug. The underlying papillae are atrophied, causing a
cup-shaped hollow, whilst the surrounding papillae are hypertrophied.
The condition is mainly caused by badly fitting boots,
though any undue pressure, of insufficient power to give rise
to ulceration, may be the cause of a corn. Corns may be hard
or soft. The hard corn usually occurs on one of the toes, is a
more or less conical swelling and may be extremely painful at
times. If suppuration occurs around the corn, it is apt to
burrow, and if unattended to may give rise to arthritis or even
necrosis. The best treatment is to soften the corn with hot
water, pare it very carefully with a sharp knife, and then paint
it with a solution of salicylic acid in collodion. The painting
must be repeated three times a day for a week or ten days. The
soft corn occurs between the toes and is usually a more painful
condition. Owing to the absorption of sweat its surface may
become white and sodden in appearance. The treatment is
much the same, but spirits of camphor should be painted on
each night, and a layer of cotton wool placed between the toes
during the daytime.
CORNARO, CATERINA (1454–1510), queen of Cyprus, was the daughter of Marco Cornaro, a Venetian noble, whose brother
Andrea was an intimate friend of James de Lusignan, natural
son of King John II. of Cyprus. In the king’s death in 1458
the succession was disputed, and James, with the help of the
sultan of Egypt, seized the island. But several powers were
arrayed against him—the duke of Savoy, who claimed the island
on the strength of the marriage of his son Louis to Charlotte,
the only legitimate daughter of John II.,[2] the Genoese, and the
pope. It was important that he should make a marriage such
as would secure him powerful support. Andrea Cornaro suggested
his niece Caterina, famed for her beauty, as that union would
bring him Venetian help. The proposal was agreed to, and
approved of by Caterina herself and the senate, and the contract
was signed in 1468. But further intrigues caused delay, and
it was not until 1471 that James’s hesitations were overcome.
Caterina was solemnly adopted by the doge as a “daughter of the Republic” and sailed for Cyprus in 1472 with the title of
queen of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia. But she only enjoyed
one year of happiness, for in 1473 her husband died of fever,
leaving his kingdom to his queen and their child as yet unborn.
Enemies and rival claimants arose on all sides, for Cyprus was
a tempting bait. In August the child James III. was born, but
as soon as the Venetian fleet sailed away a plot to depose him
in favour of Zarla, James’s illegitimate daughter, broke out,
and Caterina was kept a prisoner. The Venetians returned,
and order was soon restored, but the republic was meditating
the seizure of Cyprus, although it had no valid title whatever,
and after the death of Caterina’s child in 1474 it was Venice
which really governed the island. The poor queen was surrounded
by intrigues and plots, and although the people of the coast
towns loved her, the Cypriot nobles were her bitter
enemies and
hostile to Venetian influence. In 1488 the republic, fearing that
Sultan Bayezid II. intended to attack Cyprus, and having also
discovered a plot to marry Caterina to King Alphonso II. of
Naples, a proposal to which she seemed not averse, decided to
recall the queen to Venice and formally annex the island.
Caterina at first refused, for she clung to her royalty, but Venice
was a severe parent to its adopted daughter and would not be
gainsaid; she was forced to abdicate in favour of the republic,
and returned to Venice in 1489. The government conferred on
