NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 53 



bushes at an elevation of only a few feet, or in the upper branches of 

 a high tree, but always over water. Sometimes this bird breeds in 

 large colonies with various species of Herons. The eggs are from 

 three to five in number, bluish or dark greenish-white, with a white 

 chalky incrustation ; they are narrow and elongated in shape ; the sizes 

 range from 2.00 to 2.30 long by 1.30 to 1.40 broad. 



119. Phalacrocorax carbo (LINN.) [642.] 



Cormorant. 



Hab. Atlantic coasts of Europe and America, south in winter on the coast of the United States, cas- 

 ually, to the Carolinas. 



The Common Cormorant is very generally distributed throughout 

 nearly the entire northern hemisphere. It breeds in the northern parts 

 of Europe and Asia, and in North America from the Bay of Fundy to 

 Greenland. The Cormorants are curious birds of strange figure ; the 

 outer surface of the plumage in most species normally is of a dark 

 lustrous greenish-black, but subject to great changes, making their 

 study very difficult. The eyes as a rule are green, a color rarely seen 

 in birds. They feed principally upon fish and their voracity is pro- 

 verbial. This species breeds in vast numbers on the rocky shores of 

 Labrador and Newfoundland ; making the nest upon the tops of ledges 

 or on projections and in the crevices of precipitous rocks, which are 

 covered with the excrement of the birds. It is composed of sticks, 

 kelp and sea weed. L/ike all the Cormorants this species is gregarious 

 and breed in communities. They are all known under the common 

 name of Shag. 



Mr. Frazar met with a colony of this Cormorant in company with 

 the Double-crested species on the coast of Labrador. Many of the 

 nests contained large young June 19. Nests of the Double-crested 

 Cormorant were placed wherever the ledges would hold them, while 

 those of the Common species were built close to the top. The nests 

 of the Common Cormorant usually contained four or five eggs, and 

 several sets were taken of six. The eggs average larger than those of 

 the Double-crested; the sizes vary from 2.38 to 2.65 long by 1.29 to 

 i. 60 broad. Color, pale greenish; form, elliptical. 



120. Phalacrocorax dilophus. (Sw. & RICH.) [643.] 



Double-crested Cormorant. 



Hab. Atlantic coast of North America; southward in the interior to the Great Lakes and Wisconsin. 



In Eastern North America the Double-crested Cormorant or "Crow 

 Duck" is a common species, breeding on the coast from the Bay of 

 Fundy northward and in many of the inland lakes, reservoirs and 

 marshes. It is said to have nested years ago in Ohio, at the Licking 



