THE BRANDT CORMORANT. 



851 



tories of tlie Sail Juaiis; Ijut these companies appear to consist solely of im- 

 mature and non-bi"eeding" birds. The nesting birds are found in small col- 

 onies, each consisting of about thirty pairs, upon the Olympiades, notably 

 upon the Grenville Arch Rock, Jagged Islet, and Paahwoke-it. The birds are 

 late nesters, and their progress is constantl\- hindered by nest-robbery on the 

 part of the \\'estern Gull and the Xorthern Raven. So close a watch do their 

 enemies keep, that a Cormcjrant dares not leave its eggs fijr an instant unless 

 its mate is l:)v to take its place. This species nests onlv on top of the islands, 

 and then in the more level places. Characteristically the nest is a huge bowl, 

 or crater, of dried eel-grass and sea-weed, accumulated thru several seasons, 

 cemented firml}- by the excrement of succeeding years, and freshly lined in its 

 deep hollow with fine green grass. The eggs are elongated like those of 

 Baird's, but are unifi)rnily, aliuost diagnostically, larger. Fresh eggs are of a 

 delicate blue, with irregular deposits of rough white calcareous matter upon 

 the surface. Eggs long exposed become a deep green, as tho having absorbed 

 the color of the underlying grass, while the white overla}- absorbs filth until 

 it becomes nearly black. 



Four eggs appear to constitute the set, as in the case of all our Washing- 

 ton Cormorants. Five are elsewhere reported, but in an experience of several 

 seasons I ha\'e never seen more than four in one nest. W'herexer the num- 

 ber falls short of this, there is reason tri suspect the \isit of Cr()W or Raven. 



The Indians used to be \-ery fond of Shags' eggs, which are reall_\" very 

 good eating, and the\" sacked the nesting rcjcks once or twice each season: but 

 it has been found necessarv to put a stop to this i^ractice upon tlie C)lvnipiades. 



