BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 27 



the birds had been disturbed repeatedly. I regret exceedingly 

 that the letter has been mislaid, or I would reproduce the 

 statement in his own language. This is by no means the only 

 instance of which birds have been known to forego the employ- 

 ment of a nest after having been presistently robbed of their 

 eggs by man or beast. 



Dr. T. S. Roberts, of Minneapolis, reported to me his dis- 

 covery of several nests of this species on May 28, 1876; and on 

 the 14th of the following June, Messrs. W. L. Tiffany and John 

 Roberts, of the same place, secured six nests "on a sheet of 

 floating moss, or fresh reeds, in about three or four feet of water, 

 regularly woven of swamp grass, and each containing two or 

 three eggs." 



Mr. Washburn found them in July, 1885, "Very common 

 throughout the Red River valley, about large sloughs and 

 lakes,— at Ada, and along Thief river in the vicinity of Mud 

 lake." Their distribution is nearly uniform where the food 

 conditions are found. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Head, neck, breast, sides, and abdomen, black; lower tail 

 coverts white; under coverings of wings ashy gray; back and 

 wings dark plumbeous gray; the first four primaries grayish- 

 black, with their shafts white; bend of the wing edged with 

 white; tail same color as the back; bill, brownish- black; iris, 

 brown; legs and feet, reddish-brown; length, 9.50; wing, 8 50; 

 tail, 3.50. Habitat, Temperate and Tropical America. 



Family PHALACBOCORACID^^:. 



PHALACROCORAX DILOPHUS Swainson. (120.) 

 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. 



While shooting ducks in the spring hunters very soon learn 

 to recognize the more obvious characteristics of this species of 

 the Cormorants; one of these characteristics is the peculiarity 

 of their flight. At the time referred to these birds are in con- 

 siderable flocks, resembling in the remote distance the larger 

 sized ducks and the black Brant until a good many times de- 

 ceived, but the observing sportsmen readily discover the 

 identity. 



When frequently disturbed by the shooting at the ducks they 

 will occasionally become mingled with them in their flight from 

 one lake to another and are thus brought within easy range of 



