35 O COMMON CORMORANT. 



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

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

 in character as lofty cliffs, the swampy meres of Holland, and the 

 inundated forests of the valley of the Danube. With the exception 

 of the high north it is found all over Asia, where it usually nests on 

 trees ; in Australia and New Zealand we find a doubtfully distinct 

 form, P. nova^-hollandicv.; and even in South Africa our bird is said 

 to have occurred, while it 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 side. 



The nest is a large structure composed of sticks and long coarse 

 grass, 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 

 usually 3, but sometimes as many as 6 in number, are oblong, rough 

 in texture, and have a pale blue under-shell incrusted with chalky- 

 white : average measurements 275 by i"6 in. Many birds usually 

 congregate at the same breeding-places, which, as already indicated, 

 are to be found on high cliffs, low islets, swamps, bushes and trees. In 

 1882 a pair hatched two young in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's 

 Park ; and it was then 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 sport 

 pursued in this country in the time of the Stuart sovereigns ; while, 

 as a business, it has been followed in China and Japan from time 

 immemorial. 



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

 like white feathers ; those on the occiput being elongated and forming 

 a crest in spring ; throat white ; gular pouch yellow ; mantle bronze- 

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

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

 very early in spring and lost in summer ; irides emerald-green. The 

 sexes are alike in plumage, but the female has the longer crest 

 and is brighter in colour as well as larger in size. Length about 

 36 in. ; wing i4"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. Varieties exhibiting tendencies to albinism, and even 

 pure white birds with light-coloured bills and feet, have been 

 recorded. 



