COMMON CORMORANT. 146 



hatched then- young ; and Mr. J, J. Folliott Darling gives an' 

 account (Zool. 1882, p. 68) of a colony of seventy or eighty 

 pairs which he found breeding on an island in Lough Atty- 

 mas, about eleven miles from the sea, on some bushes which 

 had previously been occupied by a colony of Herons until 

 driven off by the Cormorants. 



This species is common in the Faeroes ; and tolerably 

 abundant in Iceland ; also in Greenland up to about 70° N. 

 lat. Its distribution extends over the whole of Europe, 

 North Africa, Egypt, the greater part of Asia, and Malaysia. 

 In Australia and New Zealand we find a doubtfully distinct 

 form, P. norce-hollandice ; and in South Africa our bird 

 appears to be represented by P. lucidus, although there are 

 statements that P. carho has occurred there. In North 

 America the Cormorant is found on the Atlantic side from 

 Hudson Bay and Labrador in summer, to New Jersey in 

 winter, but on the Pacific side its presence has not yet been 

 recorded ; otherwise this species would be almost cosmo- 

 politan in its range. 



In this country. Cormorants, when at their breeding- 

 stations, usually prefer the higher parts of rocks or clifts, 

 and many birds congregate harmoniously together. They 

 make a large nest, composed of sticks, with a mass of sea- 

 weed and long coarse grass ; laying from three to five, and 

 sometimes six eggSj small for the size of the bird, oblong, 

 similar in shape at both ends, rough in texture, of a chalky 

 white colour covering a pale blue ; average measurements, 

 2*75 by 1"6 in. Mr. Booth says that at times their nests are 

 placed on low islands, and are only elevated a few feet above 

 high-water mark. Amongst the sticks and litter which the 

 Cormorants use for building, he has seen children's whips 

 and spades, a gentleman's light cane, and part of a handle 

 of a parasol (Zool. 1877, p. 389). Mention has already 

 been made of the nesting of this species on trees, and on 

 the Continent, and in India such situations are frequently 

 occupied. Mr. S. B. Doig describes one in a swamp in the 

 Eastern Narra district where the nests are all placed on 

 trees only a few feet above the water, and were large plat- 



VOL. IV. u 



