2i6 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



by 1-85 inch in breadth. Incubation, performed chiefly 

 by the female, lasts from three to four weeks. 



Diagnostic characters : The size, combined with 

 the exceedingly handsome appearance, readily distin- 

 guish the eggs of the Osprey from those of all other 

 species breeding in the British Islands. 



Family PHALACROCORACID.E. Genus Phalacrocorax. 



CORMORANT. 



Phalacrocorax carbo {Linnc^us). 

 Single Brooded. Laying season, April and May. 



British breeding area : The Cormorant is a com- 

 mon and very widely dispersed species, breeding in more 

 or less abundance on all the rocky coasts of the British 

 Islands, including St. Kilda, the Orkneys, and the Shet- 

 lands. It also breeds at several inland stations, especially 

 in Ireland and Wales. 



Breeding habits : The Cormorant is a resident in 

 our islands, but is much more generally dispersed during 

 autumn and winter. Its favourite breeding-haunts are 

 ranges of lofty sea-cliffs, and small islands and reefs ; 

 but many birds frequent inland sheets of water, and 

 breed near them, miles from the sea. The Cormorant 

 is a gregarious bird, especially during the nesting season, 

 and many of its colonies are large. It is not improbable 

 that this species pairs for life, as the same breeding- 

 places, in many cases the same nests, are tenanted an- 

 nually. Such birds as have not paired, however, do so 

 early in the spring, and all begin to congregate at the 



