pelecanida:. 



361 



THE COMMON CORMORANT. 



Phalacrocorax carbo (Linnceus). 



The Great, or Black Cormorant, as it is sometimes called to 

 distinguish it from the smaller Green Cormorant or Shag, is 

 common and generally distributed along the greater part of the 

 British coast-line, and until 1825-27 some 50 or 60 pairs used to 

 nest on the trees at Fritton, Suffolk. From Flamborough northward 

 to Caithness it is more abundant, as a rule, than the Shag ; though in 

 the Shetlands, Orkneys, Hebrides, and along the western side of 

 Scotland, it is usually in a minority ; while in Wales it is again in the 

 ascendant as far as Pembrokeshire, where, as in the south-west of 

 England, the Shag predominates. It is widely distributed in Ireland. 

 Apart from the sea-coast, the Cormorant not infrequently nests 

 inland : notably on the bold rock near Towyn known as Craig-y- 

 deryn, and on several lakes in Ireland, sometimes breeding in com- 

 pany with Herons on trees. 



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