TWENTY-FIBST ANNUAL MEETING. 59 



yards away, and if badly frightened, only thrusting its bill out far enough to take in 

 a supply of air ; if the water is not perfectly smooth, it is useless to look for them. 

 Its food is chiefly fish, which it catches beneath the water, where it flies, with the aid 

 of its feet, as swiftly as in the air, rarely even at such times coming above the surface 

 with more than the head and neck, which is so long, slim, and wavy in motion that 

 it is oftener taken for a snake than a bird. When not fishing or apprehensive of 

 danger, they ride up lightly on the water. I have since met with the birds all along 

 the Gulf coast, and on the lagoons, and up the rivers that I visited in Central Amer- 

 ica. 



The nests of the birds are placed on bushes, or branches of trees overhanging the 

 water, varying in height from four to thirty feet. They are quite bulky, and made 

 of sticks, and lined with leaves, rootlets, moss, etc. 



Eggs, two to four; 2.12x1.34; pale bluish green, with more or less of a white cal- 

 careous covering; in form, oblong oval to ovate. A set of two eggs, taken April 

 28th, 1882, at the mouth of the Guadaloupe river, Texas, from a nest made of sticks 

 and green twigs in leaf, in a willow tree, eleven feet from the ground, are in dimen- 

 sions 2.20x1.66, 2.10x1.34. 



THE DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. 



{ Phalacroeorax dilophus Sw. and Rich.) 

 BY N. S. GOSS. 



In Kansas, migratory; not uncommon. Arrive the last of March to first of April. 

 To be looked for in the old, deep channels of the rivers, in the low-timbered lands. 

 Return in October. 



Habitat, northeastern North America, south in winter to the Gulf coast; breed- 

 ing from the Bay of Fundy northward and westward to Manitoba. 



The birds are abundant on the northeast coast, decreasing in numbers westward 

 to the Rocky Mountains. They have been reported west of the Rockies, and breed- 

 ing there, but the specimens taken on the Pacific side prove to be an intermediate 

 race between this species and albjcilialus. The birds subsist chiefly upon fish, which 

 they capture by diving and pursuing beneath the water with a speed that the swift- 

 est of the finny tribe seldom escape, coming to the surface with their capture, toss- 

 ing the same in the air and catching it head first as it falls, so that the fins will not 

 prevent its passage into the stomach. The throat readily expands, and enables them 

 to swallow fishes larger than the neck in its normal condition. I have often noticed 

 the birds, when resting upon a log or perched upon a limb over the water, suddenly 

 drop and disappear beneath its surface at the sight of a fish — catching it, however, 

 in a fair chase, and not, like the gannet or kingfisher, by plunging upon their prey. 

 All the birds of this family are voracious eaters, and the craving for food makes 

 them active hunters, and they are successfully used in many places by fishermen, 

 who tie a string around their necks to prevent their swallowing the catch. The 

 Chinese, especially, rear and train the birds upon their boats for fishers, with great 

 success. 



LeConte says: "To this end, they are educated as men rear u^d spaniels or hawks, 

 and one man can easily manage an hundred. The fisher carries them out into the 

 lake, perched on the gunwale of his boat, where they continue tranquil, and expect- 

 ing his orders with patience. When arrived at the proper place, at the first signal 

 given, each flies a different way to fulfill the task assigned it. It is very pleasant 

 on this occasion, to behold with what sagacity they portion out the lake or canal 

 where they are upon duty. They hunt about, they plunge, they rise an hundred 



