362 COMMON CORMORANT. 



This species is found in tlie Faeroes, Iceland, and Greenland up 

 to about 70° N. lat. ; while it is generally distributed over Europe, 

 and breeding-colonies are to be found in situations widely different 

 in character, such as ledges of cliffs, the swampy meres of Holland, 

 and the inundated forests of the valley of the Danube. It is found 

 all over Asia — except in the high north — and usually nests on trees ; 

 while in Australia and New Zealand the representative is a doubt- 

 fully distinct form, P. novcE-hollandiiT:. Our bird is said to have 

 occurred in South Africa, and is common in the north of that 

 continent. In America it inhabits the Atlantic coast, from Hudson 

 Bay to New Jersey, but it has not yet been noticed on the Pacific. 



The nest is a large structure composed of sticks and grass or water- 

 plants, mixed, when near the coast, with masses of sea-weed ; the 

 eggs, laid in this country in the latter half of April or in May, and 

 3-5 in number, are oblong, rough in texture, and have a pale blue 

 under-shell with a chalky-white coating: measurements 275 by 

 I '6 in. Many birds usually congregate at the breeding-places, 

 which, as already indicated, are to be found on high cliffs, low islets, 

 bushes or trees. In 1882 a pair hatched two young in the 

 Zoological Society Gardens, Regent's Park, and it was observed that 

 after the male had been fed and retained the fish for about an hour, 

 he mounted the side of the nest and opened his capacious mouth, 

 which the young bird entered as far as its outstretched wings would 

 allow, and helped itself to the macerated food in the old one's crop. 

 The parents had been trained by Capt. F. H. Salvin for catching 

 fish : a practice pursued as a sport in this country since the time of 

 the Stuart sovereigns ; while, as a business, it has been followed in 

 China and Japan from time immemorial. The nestlings are blind 

 for a fortnight or more after being hatched. 



The adult has the upper head and neck black, with many hair- 

 like white feathers, and those on the occiput lengthen and form a crest 

 in spring ; throat white \ gular pouch yellow ; mantle bronze-brown 

 and black ; quills, and the tail of fourteen feathers, black ; under 

 parts rich bluish-black, except a white patch on the thigh, which is 

 assumed very early in spring and lost in summer ; irides emerald- 

 green. The sexes are alike in plumage, but the male is larger, brighter 

 in colour, and has the longer crest. Length about 36 in. ; wing 

 14-5 in. The young bird is dark brown above, dull white mottled 

 with pale wood-brown below ; irides brown the first year, then pale 

 bluish-green, changing to emerald at the end of the second year. 

 There are records of varieties tending to albinism, and even of pure 

 white birds with light-coloured bills and feet. 



