PHALACROCORACID.E— THE CORMORANTS. 203 



Phalacrocorax dilophus (Swains.) 



DOTTBLE-CEESTED COBUOBANT. 



Popular synonyms. Black Loon; Nigger Goose (coast of Virginia): Blacli Swan (Nevada). 

 Pelecanus ICarbo) ditopluis Sw. & KlOH. F. B.-A. ii, 1831, 473. 



Phalacrocorax dilophus NUTT. Man. ii. 1834. 4S3.— .iUD. Orn. Biog. iii.1835. 420; v. 1839. 

 629, pi. 257; Synop. 1839. 302; B. Am. vi. 1814. 423. pi. 416.— Kidgw. Nom. N. Am, B. 

 1881. No. 643; MaQ. N. Am. B. 1887. 78.— CoUES. 2d Cheek List, 1882, No. 751. —B. B. 

 & B. Water B. N. Am. ii, 1884, 149.- A. O. V. Check List, 188(i, No. 120. 



Oraculus dito /ti/s Gray. Gen. B. iii.1849.— Baikd, B. N. Am. 1858,877; Cat. N. Am. B. 

 1859. No. 623.— CoUES, Key, 1872. 303; Chock List, 1873. No. 530. 



(fraculus dilophus a. dilophus Coues, B. N. W. 1874, 587. 



Hab. Northeastern North America, breeding from northern United States northward ; 

 south in winter to the Gull coast. 



8p. Chab. Basal outline of the gular pouch extending straight across the throat or 

 projecting slightly bauk along the mo Jian line. Adult, in full breeding plumage: Head, 

 neck, rump, and enti e lower parts, glossy black, with a faint luster of dull bluish green; 

 back, scapulars, and wings, dull grayish brown, each feather conspicuously and broadly 

 bordered with black. A tuft of narrow, ongthened, curved feathers on each side the 

 crown, springing from behind and above the eye. those featlieis either wholly black (in 

 eastern specimens), mixed black and white (in specimens from the interior), or wholly 

 pure white (in Pacific coast examples); nock sometimes, but rarely, with a few scattered 

 white fllamcntous feathers. Maxilla black, mottled wiih grayish or dull yellowish along 

 the sides; mandible yellowish or pale bluish, mottled with dusky: loral region and gular 

 sao deep orange; eyelids and whole interior of the mouth bright cobalt-blue, the former 

 sometimes dotted with white; iris biiaht gras.s-green; legs and feet deep black.' Adult 

 in winter: Similar to the above, but tults of the head wanting, and the bare skin of the 

 lores, gular pouch, etc., deep yellow Inbtead of orange, and the bluish of the mouth and 

 eyelids absent. Young, ttrsl plumage: Head and nock grayish brown, lighier next to 

 the Bular sac, darker on the crown and nape; back, scapulars, ami wlnjjs. dull brownish 

 gray, the feathers bordered with dusky brown; rump dusky brown; primaries and tail 

 dull grayish b ack: lower parts light fawn-color, darker on the sides, aual-rogion, and 

 orlssum. Bill dull brownish yellow, nearly black on the culmen; gular sac deep chrome- 

 yellow; Iris greenish gray; legs and feet deep black. Young, i7i winter: Similar to the 

 above, but throat, chest, and breast jialor, sometimes quite white. 



Totallength. about 29 to 33.60 inches: extent, 45 to 55; wing. 12.00-13.00 (average 12.50) ; 

 tall, 6A)-7.80 (7.15); culmen, 2.U0-2.45 (i2o). 



The Double-crested Cormorant is a transient visitor in Illinois, 

 arriving from the North in September or October and returning 

 from its winter quarter.^ in the Gulf States and Lower Mississippi 

 Valley in March or April, according to the latitude. It doubt- 

 less occasionally remains during mild winters in the southern 

 portion of the State. 



"L ke the common Black Cormorant {P. carbo), this bird lives 

 entirely on fish, which it catches by pursuing them under water, 



• Audubon gives the fresh colors as follows: "Adult male, at commencement of the 

 hreeding season: Upper miindl -le du^tky. along the edges grayish-yellow; lower yellow, 

 irregularly marked with dusky toward the edges. Iris bright gre^n, margin ol eyelids, 

 bare space on the head, and gular sac, riub orange. Feet and claws black." 



