CORMORANT 3 
Voice.—The voice of the Cormorant 1s loud and croaking, 
and the pitch is so low that the note may be compared to 
that produced on a bassoon. 
Nést.—The Cormorant is gregarious in the breeding- 
season, and large numbers of birds nest in colonies on the 
exposed ledges of sea-cliffs, lake-islands (where the nests 
are in some localities built on the ground), and in a few 
places on trees and bushes. (Plate IV.) The nest is a large 
compact structure, composed, for the most part, of stems or 
sticks,! and in maritime situations of masses of seaweed,? 
and it is plentifully lined with grasses and fragments of 
moss; wreaths of fresh ivy covered with leaves are some- 
times added. The eggs, three to five in number, have a 
rough chalky white incrustation, under which is a pale blue 
shell. In sheltered localities incubation begins early in 
April, but on exposed sea-cliffs, not until a few weeks later. 
The young are at first naked and blind, the eyelids remaining 
closed for about a fortnight. The nestling, from the time 
it is hatched until it is well-grown and covered with down, 
thrusts its head into its parent’s throat to partake of the 
macerated food reserved for its support. 
Geographical distribution.—Abroad, the Cormorant is 
found breeding in Europe, including Iceland and the 
Faroes, in Asia, North Africa, and along the Atlantic side 
of North America. 
DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial—Top of head and 
neck, black, interspersed with thin white feathers; those 
springing from the back of the head grow longer and more 
hair-like in the nuptial season, forming a crest of sparsely 
'T have frequently watched Cormorants in a state of captivity 
building their nests, and have seen the male dive to the bottom of the 
pond and come up with sticks or coarse grass in his beak. With crest 
erected and apparently looking very excited, he carries the material to 
the rock selected for breeding-purposes. The female looks ridiculous when 
receiving the attentions of her mate; she retracts her neck between her 
shoulders, and with beak pointing vertically upwards, she utters a 
hoarse laughing cry, and then either snatches the stick from her mate 
or allows him to deposit it beside the nest. 
* In a large colony a Cormorant arrives trailing a mass of seaweed, 
but on the way to the nest much of this is snatched from him by the 
birds on other nests. 
