238 BULLETIN 121, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



secure place without any order; noue, however, were below a certain height 

 on the rocks, nor were there any on the summit. 



Yarrell (1871) speaks of an island in county Cork, Ireland, where 

 a colony of 18 pairs of cormorants had built their nests in Scotch 

 fir trees not under 60 feet in height. He also speaks of their nesting 

 in trees in Norfolk and Sicily. 



The cormorant has not reached the point in evolution where sanita- 

 tion and cleanliness about the dwelling place are considered impor- 

 tant. A cormorant colony can be smelt from afar, and the vile, 

 fishy odor clings to the clothes and remains long in the memory. 

 Rocks, sticks, bushes, nests, eggs, everything is daubed with the 

 chalky, slimy excrement. The nests are placed close together, or 

 scattered wherever there are suitable ledges on the cliffs. In con- 

 struction the nest is a bulky affair composed of twigs and branches 

 of trees, grass stalks, pieces of mountain cranberry and curlew berry 

 vine, seaweed, and fresh evergreen boughs. It measures about 10 

 inches inside and 20 to 24 outside and 3 or 4 inches high. Some of 

 the nests, however, are fully a yard across and a foot high and are 

 built upon the nests of preceding seasons. 



Eggs. — The eggs are four or five in number and occasionally six, 

 and one set only is laid. They are somewhat larger than those of the 

 double-crested species and are more rounded or ellipical in shape. 

 They are of a faint green or blue color overlaid with a thick, chalky 

 coating which soon becomes soiled a dirty yellowish color. 



The measurements of 42 eggs, in various collections, average 64.8 

 by 40.9 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 

 70.5 by 43.5, 61 by 39.6, and 62 by 38.5 millimeters. 



Yoimg. — Audubon (1840) graphically described his pleasure in 

 watching a cormorant family at Whapatiguan : " The mother fon- 

 dled and nursed her young with all possible tenderness, disgorged 

 some food into the mouth of each, and coaxed them with her bill and 

 wings. The little ones seemed very happy, billed with their mother, 

 and caressed her about the breast." They grow rapidly and are fed 

 by both parents who convey the partially digested fish in their 

 capacious gullets. Into these the young thrust their heads and 

 necks and forage to their hearts' content. 



Plumages. — The young are not objects of beauty, as they appear 

 to be all legs, feet, and head and are naked and of a dark leaden 

 color ; this also is the general color of their bill, eyes, and feet. Later 

 they become clothed with a sooty colored down. When three or four 

 weeks old, before they are able to fly, they take to the water and at 

 this time, according to Lucas (1897) the external nostrils, which have 

 been open, become closed as in the adult. The juveniles, when fully 

 feathered, have a brownish gray back, a dark brown breast, and in 



