114 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



37 [119] Phalacrocorax carbo (Linn.). 

 Cormorant; Common Cormorant. 



Uncommon transient and winter visitor; November 13 to January (and to 

 April). 



There are two specimens in the Peabody Academy at Salem labeled 

 respectively, January, 1867, Gloucester, and December, 1888, Lynn. I saw two 

 immature birds of this species on the tripod of the Great Salvages off Rock- 

 port, on Januaiy ist, 1905, and one there on November 13th, 1904. 



Their ifight and habits are similar to those of the Double-crested Cormor- 

 ant, soon to be described. One of the birds I saw on January ist, sat for a 

 short while on the rock in the spread-eagle posture. It was a mild day for 

 winter, but the posture must have been a chilling one. 



As Cormorants are rarely seen near at hand, being shy birds, it is difficult 

 to distinguish this species from the Double-crested Cormorant. Mr. Brewster 

 says : "In flight and general appearance this Cormorant resembles \_dilopInis\ but 

 it looks much larger, and its white throat is usually a conspicuous feature." ^ 

 This marking, however, is seen in the adult only. The difference in size is 

 striking both when the birds are on the wing and when perched. I have been 

 able to note this when, in company with Mr. Hoffmann, I was so fortunate as to 

 observe an immature bird of each species sitting side by side on the beacon on 

 the Great Salvages off Rockport, November 13th, 1904. They flew off 

 together as we sailed by, but returned to their perch so that a second look was 

 possible, this time within a hundred yards. Another noticeable difference, 

 besides the larger size of carbo, is that the belly of this species in the immature 

 is nearly white, while that of diloplius in the immature is grayish or brownish 

 white on the upper breast and shades down to black on the lower belly. The 

 bare skin of the throat, the gular sac, in carbo, at least in the immature, is 

 more of a brownish yellow, that of diloplius, even in the immature, an orange 

 yellow. Seen from the side, the extent of this bare skin appears the same in 

 both species, but from below, the feathers are found to go up in a point nearly 

 to the bill in carbo, while in diloplius, the posterior border of the bare skin is 

 straight across without any projecting angle of feathers. This difference enables 

 one to distinguish the two species in the hand with great ease, and I was able to 

 make out the colors in life. Another distinction, to be made out with the bird 



1 Wm. Brewster : Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 22, p. 394, 1884. 



