Corlnihiifl (Koptv^oc), an Arabian, one of HenMTs body-guard, greatly trusted by him till arrested on information by Fabatus of being bribed by Sylljns to kill his master, which he confessed on tartare, a&i was sent by Satuminus to Rome for punishment (Jo- sephus, Ant. xvii, 8, 2 ; War, i, 29, 8).
Cormao MacCulinak, a bishop and kin|( <^ M^ ster, in Ireland, was bom A.D. 887. He was the au- thor or collector of the Psalter of Cadkelj a work that details the romances of the Milesian kings, a copj of which in the Irish language, according to Moore (^ts- tory of Ireland), was seen in Limerick as late as 1712. He spent nearly his whole life in the duties of leligios and pursuits of literature, founding nnmeroos schools. But, being king, he was forced to fight. Belbfe kii first and only engagement he made his -will, aawgn- bled his bishops, named his successor, gave them good advice, said he would die in battle, went into it, asd died.
Cormorant. There are two Hebrew words ibm translated in our version. (See Bochart, £[ienm. m, 20 sq.)
1. "If^^ (shalak', that which oculs itself don; Se^ KarappaKniQ, Yulg. merculuM, Syr. and Chald. J&i- catder; occurring only in Lev. xi, 17 ; Dent, xiv, 17% in common with the usual Greek version tearapaxriK^ is considered to have reference to darting, rushing, or stooping like a fStlcon ; and accordingly tias been r^ riously applied to the eagle, the jerfslcon, the gumei, the great gull, and the cormorant. The paas^et where it occurs only inform us that it was an iwm*i>*ti bird, and associate it with the " gull.*'
Its apparent Greek name, eataractes, though noCaeed by several authors, is not always referred to the sasM genus, some making it a minor gull, others a diver. Cuvier thinks Gesner right in considering it to denota a guU, and it certainly might be applied with proprie- ty to the black-backed gull, or to Uie glancoos ; hot idthough birds of such powerful wing and marine k^sh- itat are spread over a great part of the world, it doei not appear that, if known at the extremity of the Med- iterranean, they were sufficiently common to haw been clearly indicated by either the Hebrew or Gre^ names, or to have merited being noticed in the Ho«ic prohibition. Both thd above are in general northcrB residents, being rarely seen even so low as the Bay of Biscay, and the species now called *^ Lestzia catazac- tes" is exclusively Arctic. WiUi regard to the cor- morant, birds of that genus tre no doubt itmnd on the coasts of Palestine, where high difib extend to the sespshore, such, for example, as the PhaiaeroconBt pygmaut ; but all the species dive, and seldom, if ever, rudi flying upon their prey, though Uiat habit has been claimed for them by commentators, who har* mixed up the natural histoiy of '* cormorants" witi that of the **sula" or ^^gannet," which really daiti fh)m great elevations into the sea to catch its prey, rising to the snr&ce sometimes nearly half a mimiie
CORMORANT
515
CORN
after die plonge. But the gannet (solan goose) rarely comes further south than the British Channel, and does not appear to have been noticed in the Mediter- ranean. It is true that several other marine birds of the North frequent the Levant, but none of them can enth^Ij claim Aristotle and Oppian's characters of "cataractes;" for, though the wide throat and rather large head of the dwarf cormorant may be adduced, that bird exceeds in stature the required size of a small hawk, and fishes, it maj be repeated, swimming and diviAg, not bj darting down on the wing, and is Qot sufficiently numeroua or important to have re- quired the attention of the sacred legislator.
Thus reduced to make a choice where the objections ire less and the probabilities stronger, we conclude the thalak to have been a species of "tern," oonsid- !red to be identical with the Siema Ccupica, so called I)e€au8e it is found about the Caspian Sea ; but it is equally common to the Polar, Baltic, and Black Seas, ind, if truly the same, is not only abundant for several nonths in the year on the coast of Palestine, but fre- juents the lakes and pools far inland, flying across he deserts to the Euphrates, and to the Persian and Gted Seas, and proceeding up the Nile. It is the largest )f the tern or sea-swallow genus, being about the f eight of a pigeon, and near two feet in length, hav- ng a hurge black-naped head, powerful, pointed crim- lon bill, a white and grey body, with" forked tail, and rings greatly exceeding the tips of the tail ; the feet ire veiy small, weak, and but slightly webbed, so that
Caspian Tern. t swims perhaps only accidentally, but with sufficient tower on land to spring up and to rise f^m level [round. It flies with im mense velocity, darting along he surface of the sea to snap at mollusca or small ishes, or wheeling through the air in pursuit of in- ects ; and in calm weather, after rising to a great teight, it drops perpendicularly down to near the sur- ace of the water, but never alights except on land ; nd it is at all times disposed to utter a kind of laugh- Dg scream. This tern nestles in high cliift, sometimes t a very considerable distance firom the sea. (See be Penmf Cydopadia, s. v. Tern.) — Kitto, s. v. Salach. 2. TK^ (kaalk% rendered "cormorant" in our ver- bn in Isa. xxxiv, 11 ; Zeph. ii, 14, is elsewhere trans- Ued ** Pelican," q. v.