282 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



received in the summer of 1863 an adult bird in full 

 breeding plumage. It was sooty black all over with 

 the exception of a white patch on the wing ; the 

 inside of the mouth, legs, and feet, vermilion-red. 

 After the autumn moult the dorsal plumage becomes 

 mottled, and the under parts nearly white. The 

 sexes, as in the Common Guillemot, are externally 

 indistinguishable. This bird lays two eggs, generally 

 in some niche or crevice ; the Common Guillemot 

 lays but one on an exposed and bare ledge. 



Order XIII. STE G AN P D E S ^ 



Fam. PELECANIDtE. 



CORMORANT. Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnaeus). PI. 32, 

 figs. 3, 4, 4a. Length, 36 in. ; bill, 2-75 in. ; wing, 

 13 in. ; tarsus, 2-5 in. 



Resident and generally distributed, but most 

 numerous on the northern and western coasts. 



In the summer plumage, assumed in March, 

 the top of the head and greater portion of the 

 neck are covered with long narrow white feathers, 

 and there is a large patch of white on each flank. 

 These are wanting in the winter plumage, and 

 are lost by a gradual moult. 



The eye, both in this species and the next, is 



^ The birds comprised in this Order, viz., Cormorants, Gannets, 

 Frigate-birds, Tropic birds, and Pelicans, differ from all others in 

 having all four toes connected by a web. See PI. 32, fig. 4a. 



