146 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



and never met with tlieir superior either in weight or 

 excellence of flesh. When it was known among these 

 people the loss they had sustained in selling for twenty- 

 five cents what would have brought them from a dollar to 

 a dollar and a half a pair, universal surprise and regret 

 were naturally enough excited." 



The nests of this bird are usually found in thick growths 

 of grass, reeds and rushes growing in shallow water. They 

 are made of grasses and material at hand, are built from 

 the ground up, and often quite bulky, and are lined with 

 down. Eggs usually seven or eight, 2.50xl.Y6; pale 

 grayish olive green ; in form, oval to ovate. 



LL— DOUBLE-CKESTED C0EM0KA:N^T. 



Phalacrocoirix dilophus (Sw. &'Ricii.). ■ 



Migratory; not uncommon. Arrive the last of March 

 to the first of April. To be looked for in the old deep 

 channels of the rivers in the low timbered lands. Return 

 in October. 



Habitat. !Rorthern E'orth America; south in winter 

 to the Gulf coast ; breeding from the Bay of Eundy north- 

 ward, and Avestward to Manitoba. 



The birds are abundant on the northeast coast, decreas- 

 ing in numbers westward to the Rocky Mountains. They 

 have been reported west of the Rockies, and breeding 

 there, but the specimens taken on the Pacific side prove 

 to be an intermediate race between this species and alho- 

 ciliatiLS. 



The birds subsist chiefly upon fish, which they capture 

 by diving and pursuing beneath the water, with a speed 

 the swiftest of the finny tribe seldom escape, coming to 



