LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 251 



April 12; Manitoba, Shell River, May 13. Late dates of departure: 

 New Jerse}^, Sea Island City, May 23 ; New York, Montauk Point, 

 May 15; Rhode Island, Newport, May 17; Massachusetts, June 18; 

 Missouri, St. Louis, May 22 ; Louisiana, Lake Catherine, April 14. 



Fall migration. — Reversal of spring routes. Early dates of ar- 

 rival : Massachusetts, Essex County, August 22 ; New York, Montauk 

 Point, August 26; New Jersey, Wildwood, August 30; Missouri, 

 October 5. Late dates of departure : Quebec, Montreal. November 1 ; 

 Massachusetts, Essex County, November 21; New York, Onondaga 

 Lake, November 30; Pennsylvania, Erie, December 14; Michigan, 

 Ann Arbor, November 25 ; Illinois, Chicago, November 20. 



Casual records. — Wanders occasionally to Bermuda (October 10, 

 1847, February 8, 1848, etc.) 



Egg dates. — North Dakota and Minnesota : Thirty-one records. 

 May 12 to July 11; sixteen records. May 23 to June 15. Manitoba 

 and Saskatchewan : Eighteen records, June 4 to July 21 ; nine records, 

 June 14 to 18. Quebec : Six records. May 26 to June 30. Utah : 

 Five records, April 9 to May 17. 



PHALACROCOnAX AURITUS FLORIDANUS (Audubon). 

 FLORIDA CORMORANT. 



HABITS. 



About the mangrove keys of southern Florida, principally in that 

 broad expanse of shallow water known as the Bay of Florida, be- 

 tween Cape Sable and the Keys, this smaller form is exceedingly 

 abundant and one of the characteristic birds of the region. It is 

 decidedly gregarious in its habits, flying about in large flocks and 

 roosting in immense numbers on certain keys, to which it regularly 

 resorts, the mangroves becoming thoroughly whitewashed with the 

 accumulated droppings of hundreds of cormorants. These roosts 

 are occupied by day as well as by night and it is an interesting ex- 

 perience to row around one of them in a small boat and see the great 

 black birds pour off the trees down to the surface of the water and 

 go flying off in large flocks. They are much tamer than their north- 

 ern relatives, as they are seldom molested. They are called " nigger- 

 geese " by the natives, who consider the young good eating, but even 

 the negroes and conchs do not care for adults. 



Courtship. — As I have never witnessed the nuptial performance 

 of this species I must quote the following graphic account from the 

 pen of the illustrious Audubon (1840) : 



The Florida cormorant begins to pair about the first of April, and commences 

 the construction of its nest about a fortnight after. Many do not lay quite 

 so early, and I found some going through their preparations until the middle 



