BIRDS OF ICELAND 35 



-^ Phalacrocorax carbo (Linn.). Cormorant. 



Native names : ' Skarf ur,' ' Dilaskarfur ' (i.e. ' Spotted 

 Skarfur'), "Utilegu-skarfur ' ('Outlaw Skart'), 

 ' Hnuplungur ' (Snatcher). 



Resident and abundant, breeding in colonies, chiefly 

 round the northern coasts. 



It nests on ledges of cliffs, or on rocky islets, and 

 makes a large, untidy — and subsequently filthy — nest 

 of seaweed and rubbish, in which it lays three or four 

 eggs of pale blue, usually so much encrusted with a 

 softish white chalky substance (which soon gets very 

 dirty) that the real colour of the eggs does not appear. 

 For their size see the Gannet's. The smell of a colony 

 of Cormorants' nests is a thing not easily forgotten. 



The bird is glossy black with a whitish patch on 

 the throat, and also (in summer dress only) on either 

 thigh. It has somewhat of a crest, worn on the back 

 of the head, not on the forehead as in the Shag. 

 Length 36 inches, wing 14 J inches. The young bird is 

 sooty brown above, whitey brown beneath. 



The Cormorant feeds on fish, often straying some 

 distance up rivers, and doing there great damage to 

 the younger trout and salmon. In such localities they 

 should be warned off — with a gun ; at sea they seem 

 to do next to no harm, as they feed largely on fish of 

 no value to man. 



This species has fourteen tail-feathers. 



