Little Black Cormorant (1/19)

PHALACROCORACIFORMES: Phalacrocoracidae

Phalacrocorax sulcirostris  

The Little Black Cormorant

BY inlet and islet and wide river reaches,
By lake and lagoon I'm at home;
Yet oft the far forests of blue gum and beeches
About the broad ranges I roam.
"There's a strange, sombre bird with a hook in his beak."
'Tis the little black cormorant raiding your creek.

And woe to the fisher and woe to the fishes--
A gourmand, I freely confess--
When I come a-searching for succulent dishes,
Arrayed in my funeral dress.
Then the fishermen rave, and in anger they speak:
"There's a little black cormorant coming up creek!"

But I'm quick and I'm cunning, as many a greyling,
A blackfish, a trout or a bream
Has known to his sorrow when down I go sailing
To hunt him beneath the dark stream.
To my cavernous maw then they all come alike,
And 'tis death should the little black cormorant strike.

But I am an outlaw. I'm hunted and harried.
I'm banned from the havens of men.
And woe is to me if too long I have tarried--
A shot o'er the waters--and then,
There is reason indeed for my funeral dress.
For alas, here's a little black cormorant less!

The Little Black Cormorant
by C J Dennis (1876-1938)
The Singing Garden (1935) p.85.