56 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Usually, the nests were placed on ledges of steep cliffs, though 

 sometimes they were on overhanging walls of caverns well out 

 of reach of the surging water. Only once was a different 

 nesting site noted. In 1925, I found an unusual nesting situation 

 near Izembek Bay at the west end of Alaska Peninsula. On Glen 

 Island, at this bay, on May 20, there was a considerable colony 

 of P. p. pelagicus in a compact group on a low point. Some of 

 the birds had white flank patches at this time. On June 1, Steven- 

 son reported that the birds were sitting on nests. On June 26, 

 about 30 nests were counted, but there were no eggs. On July 27, 

 the cormorants were still plentiful at Glen Island, but there had 

 been no success in nesting. 



The interesting fact in this instance is the unusual nesting 

 site, which was a low sandy point above tidewater. While there 

 had been a few birds in breeding plumage, the majority seemed 

 to be immature birds. Amak Island, with immense cliffs occupied 

 by large numbers of P. urile and only a few P. p. pelagicus, is 

 about 12 to 14 miles out to sea. It was not determined whether 

 this was an abortive attempt at nesting on Glen Island by cor- 

 morants crowded off Amak Island, or whether the birds were 

 immature. Throughout the Aleutian chain, both P. urile and P. p. 

 pelagicus are found nesting on the same cliffs. 



While the pelagic cormorant is a salt-water bird almost ex- 

 clusively, Osgood found it on Becharof Lake, as noted previously, 

 and natives of Atka Island said these birds will go to the lakes of 

 Amchitka Island in winter. 



Cahn (1947) reports them at Unalaska as "abundant every- 

 where along the rocky shores from September to May," and 

 Taber (1946) says the species was present at Adak in winter, 

 where they continuously lived in salt water, never in fresh-water 

 lakes. Sutton and Wilson (1946) found them at Attu in the 

 summer and in the winter. 



Food Habits 



The food of this cormorant is assumed to be fish, but, according 

 to Preble and McAtee (1923), a considerable percentage consists 

 of various Crustacea, at least in the Pribilofs. Sutton and Wilson, 

 at Attu, obtained a specimen on February 28, and report: "Its 

 stomach and crop were packed with small sculpins which it had 

 caught in water about 15 feet deep along the west side of Casco 

 Cove." 



