The Australian Cormorant.

Hastings Standard, Issue 284, 30 March 1897, Page 4

The Australian Cormorant.

Tii_' ravages of the cormorant in Northern Victoria have led the Government- (says the Bulletin) to offer a reward of 3d for each bird. A very

large cormorant-killing industry has accordingly sprung up in the wild regions along the N.E. borders. The cormorant-killer pegs in manfully for a month until he has accumulated, perhaps, 3000 birds, and then he humps them along to the nearest Customs officer to be counted and inspected, and the heads cut off to prevent fraud. The cormorant doesn't smell nice at any time, and 8000 of him that have accumulated for a month in the hot weather smell something unspeakable. Lately the hunters have been complaining that the Customs man is often a long way off, and have demanded that the rural postmaster or postmistress (it is generally the latter) should be appointed to overhaul the shuddersome mass of fowl and pay the bounty, but the Government has decided that it can't ask any woman to inspect and count and behead all these crates of decomposed birds, and to run after the deadest bird of the lot when it starts off round the corner, so the present arrangement must stand. Besides, the present arrangment brings grist to the mill; many of the fowlers send their birds along to the Customs by rail, as may be seen by the millions of blow-flies that scoot after the train—and the freights all help business along.