Double-crested Cormorant 27 



A large and cosmopolitan genus of about forty species, five in the 

 United States. 



Key of the Species. 



a 



_. Larger, wing over 11 -0 ; no white gorget. P. auritus, p. 27. 

 b. Smaller, wing under 11 -0. a white gorget along the edge of 

 the gular sac in the breeding pkunage. 



P. V. mexicanus, p. 28. 



Double-crested Cormorant. PJialacrocorax auritus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 120— Colorado Records— Ridgway 79, p. 234 

 (P. dilophua) ; H. G. Smith 86, p. 285 ; 96, p. 48 ; Morrison 89, p. 148 ; 

 Cooke 97, pp. 52, 156 ; Felger 09, p. 279. 



Description. — Adult — Plumage gloSsy greenish black, the feathers 

 of the scapulars and wings slaty with black borders ; a few long curly 

 feathers above and behind the eye form a double crest ; tail of twelve 

 feathers ; iris green, eyelids blue, bill yellow, darker along the culmen ; 

 gular sac orange and convex in shape posteriorly, feet dull black. 

 Length about 32; wing 12-0; tail 6*0; cuknen 2-10; tarsus 2-20. 



The crests are lost in the winter and the eyelids are not so blue ; 

 young birds are dark brown, paling on the throat and breast to almost 

 white. 



Distribution. — The greater part of North America on the coast and 

 in the interior ; breeding from the Bay of Fundy and North Dakota 

 northwards ; south in winter to the Gulf coast. 



In Colorado this Cormorant can only be regarded as a straggler 

 in the fall migration ; there are about foxn* definite records, all from 

 the neighboiu-hood of Denver in the fall between 1885 and 1891, given 

 by H. G. Smith, and others by Felger. Aiken informs me that he 

 has examined a few examples killed near Colorado Springs. 



Habits. — Cormorants are generally found about the 

 sea coast, and this species is the only one which is widely 

 distributed in the interior parts of North America. They 

 are expert fishers and swim and dive with great ease ; 

 they seize their prey in their powerful bills under water, 

 and on returning to the surface they toss the fish in the 

 air and swallow it head first. When not fishing, much 

 of their time is spent sitting and sunning themselves 

 on rocks or posts on the beach. They nest in com- 

 munities on the rocks or in the cliffs beside the sea, and 



