48 Birds of Xortii Carolina 



Genus Phalacrocorax (Briss.) 



Represented in our State by two closely allicil forms iliffcring only in .■^izc and 

 in time of occurrence. 



34. Phalacrocorax auritus auritus (Swains.). Double-crested Cormo- 

 rant. 



Ads. in hrccdiiiq plumai/c. — Tload, nock, ruin]) ami unJcrparts glossy bl.ack; upper l);u'k, 

 scapulars, and wiiiK-covrrts liRht grayish thrown, each feather margined with glossy black; 

 tail black, composetl of Iwcire J'cdllicrs; a tuft of black feathers on either side of the head; a few 

 white ones over the eye. Ada. in winter. — Similar, but without- tufts on the head. Im. — Top 

 of the head and back of the neck blackish brown; upper back, scapulars, and wing coverts 

 brownish gray, each feather margined with black: rump glossy black; sides of the head and 

 forencck gi-ayish white, whiter on the breast and cliaiiging gradually to black on the lower 

 belly. L,, IriO.OO; \V., 12. .■>(); T., (1.20; R., 2.:«). (Cha]).. fiirds of E. .V. .l.i 



Range. — Eastern North .\m('ri<-a, lirceding from Xova Scotia .and Saskatchewan northward; 

 winters from North Carolina southward to the co.ast of the (iulf of .Mexico. 



Range in North Carolina. — Coastal region in winter; occasionally inland. 



FlO. 28. DOVBLECRESTEI) CdU.MMm.ST. 



These are the coniiiioii corinorants on (nir coast in winter, where they are often 

 seen perched on stakes set by the fishermen to hold their nets or to mark the various 

 channels through the sliallow sounds. .\s evening comes they congregate in flocks 

 of from ten to forty indiviiluals. and in solid ranks go Hying low ovtr tlic water 

 to some favorite "lump" of shell, or small sandy island, on which to roost. One 

 evening early in April, 1898, Pearson dug a hole in the shells of a miniature island 

 in Wysocking Bay, Hyde County, where, lying concealed, he was enabled to watch 

 unobserved the hundreds of cormorants which came there to roost. Without excep- 

 tion the flocks all pitched in the water a short distance away, and later swam 

 leisurely ashore. Cormorants are much dislik(>d by fishermen, who declare that the 

 birds enter their ])oiuid-nets and i)rey uiion the vahiablr fish. 



