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embraces two genera, with over 40 

 species, scattered over all parts of the 

 world. Only one species is common 

 on the central China coast. 



THE COEMOEANT. 



PHALACROCOEAX CAEBO (l.) 



Description. — Length 35 inches. 



Bill, yellow-brown, Legs, black. Iris 

 green. Bare throat yellow. There is 

 a bare space on each side of the throat 

 extending behind the gape. 



A short crest. Plumage in general 

 black, mixed with white on the neck, 

 and irridescent on the back and wings. 

 Wing coverts and scapulars bronze- 

 brown margined with black. 



Young birds have plumage mostly 

 brown or dusky. 



Distrihutioyi. — Cosmopolitan, occur- 

 ring in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, 

 and North America. Eesident and 

 common on the coasts of China, and in 

 the Yangtse Valley. 



Nest and Eggs. — These birds usually 

 select elevated situations for their nests. 

 They choose the tops of lofty clifts, or 

 high trees; failing these, they may build 

 in low trees in marshy districts, or even 

 in a bed of rushes. The nest which 

 is large, is composed of sticks or sea- 

 weeds, heaped up to a considerable 

 height. It is lined with finer grass. 



' The eggs, small in proportion to the 

 size of the bird, are of a dull, pale bluish 

 or greenish-white color. Three, four, 

 or five or even sometimes six are laid.' 



The 3'oung bird feeds from its 

 parents' crop by thrusting its head 

 into the parents' mouth. 



