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534 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
Famiry GRACULIDZ. Tue Cormorants. 
Bill rather moderate, culmen concave, tip much hooked and acute; nostrils not 
perceptible; wings moderate and pointed; tail rather short and rounded; tarsi 
short; toes long and all joined by full webs; gular sac capable of considerable 
expansion. 
GRACULUS, Linnzus. 
Graculus, Linnxus, Syst. Nat. (1735). (Type Pelecanus carbo, L.) 
Bill rather slender, of moderate length, with the culmen concave, hooked at the 
tip, the sides compressed and grooved; nostrils not visible in the adult; wings mod- 
erately long and pointed, second and third primaries longest; tail moderate and 
graduated at the end; tarsi short and much compressed; toes long and full-webbed ; 
a leathery pouch at the base of the lower mandible, which can be much distended. 
These birds exist abundantly in all parts of the globe. They are mostly found 
on the seacoast, breeding on rocky ledges difficult of access, and also on trees. 
They are exceedingly expert in catching fish; being very active in the water, and 
capable of remaining under its surface for a great length of time. 
GRACULUS CARBO. — Gray. 
The Common Cormorant. 
Phalacrocorax carbo, Nuttall. Man., II. (1834) 479. Aud. Orn. Biog., III. 
(1885) 458. Jb., Birds Am., VI. (1843) 412. 
Graculus carbo, Gray. Gen. of Birds (1845). 
DESCRIPTION. 
Bluish-black; feathers on middle of occiput and hind neck elongated; gular sac 
yellow, at the base of which is a broad band of white; linear feathers on the head, 
and neck white; a patch of white on the sides; third primary longest; tail of four- 
teen feathers. } 
Adult. —Plumage in general black, glossed with greenish-blue; the feathers of the 
upper part and sides of the back and wing coverts are dark-ash, with bronzed reflec- 
tions, and bordered with greenish-black; primaries and tail feathers grayish-black, 
secondaries grayish-brown; bare space around the eye dull-olive, under the eye red; 
the gular sac yellow, encircling the lower part of which is a broad band of white; 
numerous linear filamentous white feathers are distributed over the head and neck; 
on the side, over the thigh, is a patch of elongated linear white feathers; upper man- 
dible grayish-black, with the edges yellowish-white, lower dusky yellowish-white at 
the base; iris bluish-green; eyelids with dusky margins; tarsi, feet, and claws 
grayish-black. 
The bill is strong and powerful, the ridge is smooth, but the sides of both mandi- 
bles are rugose. 
Length, thirty-seven inches; wing, fourteen; bill, three and fifty one-hundredths; 
tail, six and fifty one-hundredths inches. 
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