960 



SYSTEM A TIC S YNOPSIS. — S TEG A NOP ODES. 



or less fan-shaped, of 12-14 very stiff, strong feathers, denuded to base by extreme short- 

 ness of coverts; thus almost " scansorial" in structure, recalling that of a Woodpecker or 

 Creeper, and used in a similar way, as a support in standing, or an aid in scrambling over 

 rocks and bushes. Body compact and heavy, with a long sinuous neck ; general eonfigura- 



^' 



tiun, and especially the far 

 backward set of the legs, 

 much like that of Pygopt)- 

 dous birds. While other Ste- 

 ganopodes can stand with the 

 body more or less nearly ap- 

 proaching a horizontal posi- 

 tion. Cormorants are forced 

 into a nearly upright posture, 

 when the tail affords with 

 the feet a tripod of support. 

 They also, like the birds just 

 mentioned, dive and swim 

 under water in pursuit of their 

 prey, using their wings for 

 submarine progression, which 

 is not the case with the other 

 families, except Anhingida;. 

 In both these families the 

 body is not in the least pneu- 

 matic under the skin — quite 

 the reverse of Pelicans and Gannets. 



Among osteological characters, aside from the 

 general figure of the skeleton, a long bony style 

 in the nape, in position of the ligamentum nuchce 

 of many animals, but in relation with extensive 

 temporal muscles, and articulated with occiput, 

 is the most remarkable (fig. 672). It occurs in the Anhinga also, but is there much smaller. 

 The desmognathous structure is seen in its highest development; palatines not only soldered, 

 but sending down a keel along their line of union; iuterorbital septum very defective, with 

 horizontal inferior border (a general character of the order except in Pelicans). There are 20 



Fig. 673. — The nest of the Cormorant (P. bicris- 

 tatus). (Designed by H. W. Elliott.) 



