LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS. 257 



species. A small series of 9 eggs collected by William L. Dawson 

 on the coast of Washington average, in measurements, 62,4 by 40.8 

 millimeters; the eggs shoAving the four extremes measured 64.2 by 

 42, 59.4 by 40.2, and 60.7 by 40.2. 



Behavior. — It hardly seems necessary to go into further details of 

 the life history of this bird, about which comparatively little has 

 been published, as it is the rarest and the least known of the four 

 subspecies. There is no reason for thinliing, that it differs essen- 

 tially in its habits from its better known relati^-es. 



Winter. — Mr. William H. Kobbe (1900) say of its winter habits, 

 near Cape Disappointment, Washington : — ■ 



This cormorant is a very abundant species during the entire year, but espe- 

 cially so in the winter and spring. They are rather wary birds to hunt, but may 

 always be shot while sitting upon the stakes which support the fish pots. They 

 sometimes perch upon these poles for hours and oftentimes may be seen with 

 their wings half spread, by which means they dry them. Although the birds 

 remain throughout the summer, I did not find them nesting upon the numerous 

 cliffs of the cape and am certain they do not breed in this locality. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



Breeding range. — Northwest coast region. From the coast of 

 Washington (The Olympiades) northward throughout southern 

 Alaska to Kodiak Isand and the base of the Alaska Peninsula (Lake 

 Iliamna). Aleutian Islands records are open to question. Breed- 

 ing grounds protected in the following reservations : In Alaska, St. 

 Lazaria, and Forrester Island; and in Washington, Flattery Rocks, 

 Quillayute Needles, and Coj)alis Rock. 



Winter range. — Practically resident in its breeding range. 



Egg dates. — Washington: Four records, June 3, 12, and 20, and 

 July 10. 



PHALACROCORAX AURITUS ALBOCILIATUS Ridgway. 



FARALLON CORMORANT. 



HABITS. 



This name is somewhat misleading, for this is the least abundant 

 of the three species of cormorant known to breed on the Farallon 

 Islands ; it is much more abundant at many other places ; and it is 

 widely distributed from southern Oregon to Lower California, breed- 

 ing on the islands along the coast and in many lakes in the interior. 

 It has a much wider range and is much better known than the north- 

 ern subspecies, the white-crested cormorant. Its life history is so 

 similar to that of the eastern double-crested cormorant that it would 

 involve a useless repetition to give much more than a brief account 

 of some of its characteristic breeding colonies. 



