MEXICAN CORMORANT Snes 
121. Phalacrocorax vigua mexicanus. 25 in. 
Adults with feathers bordering on the gular sac, white. 
In breeding plumage, the sides of head and neck have 
tufts of filmy white feathers, eyes green, as they are in 
all cormorants. All cormorants are expert swimmers 
and frshermen. They never plunge for their prey, but 
pursue and catch it under water, the same as do the 
grebes. When perching, they sit erect with their neck 
bent in the form of a letter S. They fly with their 
necks outstretched, and with rather slow wing beats. 
They are very gregarious and nest in large colonies, 
this species always being found in swamps or heavy 
shrubbery, surrounding bodies of water. 
Nest.—Usually in trees overhanging the water. or 
upon the ground, in either case being made of sticks 
and weeds. The 3 to 5 eggs are bluish-green, covered 
with a chalky deposit (2.25 x 1.35). 
Range.—Breeds north to the extreme southern bound- 
ary of the United States; wanders north casually to 
Ill. in summer. 
